Love triangles and Hate squares
by The Unaligned
Summary: Freedom comes from within. But what, or who, resides within Dr. Lauren Lewis? Lauren and Bo will both discover strength within themselves that they never knew to be possible. As they fight for freedom from themselves and their detractors they just might find each other. But remember, it's not how you play the game. It's how the game plays you. (Doccubus end-game)
1. Kenzi's notebook

A/N: I didn't like the trailer/preview thing I wrote, so it's gone and this replaces it. I keep making changes to what's going to happen and now a lot of it isn't relevant. So I wrote this up. Bo reading Kenzi's notebook from before my story "the Sound of Silence." That's kind of the prequel to this so go check it out. The Bo parts take place before season three between the Sound of Silence and this story.

My fic's come with music recommendations. Paste the "watch(whatever)" in after the "/" after the . com on You Tube. If you're not listening in you're missing out. The music will vary greatly.

**Play: watch?v=dtV03aEBRSA (Arvo Pärt Kanon Pokajanen Ode VII)**

Bo looked around the clubhouse 'for the last time'_,_ she thought. Her eyes drew immediately to the notebook she'd purposely decided to leave on the table in front of the couch. Kenzi's journal, or whatever_,_ that she'd been writing in before all this. She really didn't want to take it with them. Part of her wanted to read it, wanted to keep something of Kenzi's with her. Like getting to talk to her again. But she couldn't shake the guilt.

"You ready babe?" She heard Lauren ask from the front door.

"Just a second," Bo replied back as she ran to grab the book. 'Fuck it,' she thought. She'd rather have the book and never read it than wish she could go back for it. They'd never be going back. They were leaving the fae behind. There was nothing left for either of them here anymore.

...

Bo could have used Kenzi's advice or a hug, even just her smile. She had just had another fight with Lauren. The fights had started to string together and she wasn't sure if this was a continuation of the last one or a new one.

Bo wanted to settle down and do the family thing. But Lauren always felt like someone was following them. She always had them moving so they had never stayed in place for any length of time. They'd even ditched Lauren's car this week.

Bo really wished she had someone to talk to after Lauren stormed out that night.

But she didn't have anyone, only Lauren_,_ and she was beginning to think that 'settling down' was something Lauren Lewis would do anything to avoid.

She wasn't really ready and she wasn't sure if she ever would be but that was the first time Bo opened Kenzi's notebook. It wouldn't be the last. She needed her best friend.

...

You don't have to worry. I'm not going to tell you a bunch of lies to make me look good. I'm just going to tell you what happened.

My name is Kenzi and I'm human. Why is this important? Because I'm not fae. I don't have special powers, I can't kill with a kiss, I can't turn into a wolf and I can't bring puppies back to life with hugs.

I know, "Nobody can do that, right?" Wrong. Fae do that. Maybe not the thing with the puppies and hugs, I don't know, I'll have to ask Trick on that one.

My best friend_,_ Bo_,_ is fae. She's a succubus. She can kill you with sexy and she's pretty much invincible. She only found out she was fae and that her human parents adopted her two years ago. So we started out trying to find out about Bo's mom. When we eventually found her, she wasn't what either of us expected. That's where this started...

One year ago, Bo and I were in the vaults at the Light fae compound finding her a secret weapon to stop her crazy mother. I wanted to help, but Bo wouldn't let me. She tricked me, chained me up and went to face her mother alone.

I wasn't the only one who thought she needed help, Dyson made a deal with a Norn and gave up his ability to love to save her. I don't know if he thinks it was worth it anymore.

After that he became a miserable_,_ useless bastard, a completely different person. But don't get me wrong, I'm still team Dyson. With his help Bo survived.

_(Scribbled in below this entry)_ Six months from now the accident awaits me.

...

"Accident? What accident?" Bo asked the book.

She flipped through more of the pages looking for dates on the entries. There were none. Bo smiled, "dates are too organized for you Kenzi, aren't they?"

Lauren came home, looked at Bo with her clinical deadpan and mumbled, "I'm going to bed now," before walking into the bedroom of the shitty Motel 6 and closing the door.

"I'll take the couch tonight." Bo said to herself as her smile faded.

...

We got our butts kicked last time and the Garuda killed Ciara. We'd have all been killed but Dyson bought us the time to escape. I hid under some bodies and dragged him out after everyone else was gone. He was pretty beat up.

I want to say this now, so there is no confusion later: I am not a liability. I am not weak. Just because I am human doesn't make me any less important to the fae. I think Dyson's starting to realize this.

I think he's starting to realize he's not enough like this. No enough for himself, not enough to save the fae. Not enough for Bo.

I can fix this...

I just cut my way through the front door of the Norn's house with a chainsaw. I'm here to get Dyson's love back. To make him whole so we can defeat the Garuda and save the fae, again.

_(scribbled in the margin next to the entry)_ In mere moments my life would change forever.

As the Norn gave me Dyson's wolfy mojo I knocked a bottle of greenish black goop off of a shelf. Some of it spilt on my arm. It looked like it was burning, but it didn't feel like burning. It felt cold and then numb.

The Norn told me that "a gift has been given" or something to that effect. This gift is very much worse than the sweater Trick got me for Christmas.

...

Bo woke up slumped on the couch with Kenzi's notebook over her face.

She'd been dreaming. Nightmares about Lauren and her, about their future. She tried to recall the details, but they slipped from her mind as the grains of sand would from a child's fist.

No details, just feelings of terror, confusion, and loss of control. She worried these were more than just dreams. She wished she had someone to talk to, Lauren would still be asleep.

Then she remembered what she had been reading in Kenzi's notebook.

...

Two days after the accident and I still haven't slept. I don't feel tired. I don't look tired. I just can't sleep.

It feels like I've slept. Have I slept? Have I been sleeping?

I know we defeated the Garuda, but I don't remember it. There was a victory party at the Dal. People were happy, but sad. It was a bittersweet victory after all.

Bo still seems distracted. I think there's something she's not telling us. That seems a mirror to our natural states of keeping things from the succubus. Secrets. Secrets we mustn't tell her. So much she doesn't know. Everyone thinks It's for her own good.

I'm no different from the rest now.

...

Six days after. I think I've been sleeping but I don't know. Bo and Lauren have been humping for days now. It seems like days. The whole house smells like sex. None of the surfaces feel smooth any more, even the ones that should. Even when they're sound asleep I can hear them fucking. Thinking about fucking. Mind fucking.

They deserve it though, we could have all died. But we didn't. We should celebrate. But I don't feel like celebrating. I don't feel like much. I feel, but everything feels different.

There's a piece of me missing and I don't know what it is or where it went. Something else is replacing it. It's amazing I can feel so bad and still look so good.

I think I'll go see Hale tomorrow. He might be able to help. He's the least likely to be a douche about things.

...

Day eight. Bo is spending the weekend at Lauren's. I'm glad. I can't stand another day of hiding this anymore. I was going to go see Hale, then I didn't. Well, I saw him, but that was about it. Important Ash-hat business is important, apparently.

The last few days seem like a blur. One big, sleepless blur. I'm not sleeping but I don't feel like I'm awake, either. Nothing seems real any more.

I've got the house to myself. I drank an entire bottle of vodka today. Not only am I not dead, I'm barely even drunk. I can't even drown these new feelings. I don't like them. I don't want to feel like this anymore.

Dyson can't know. He can never know. I don't want him feeling guilty. It's not his fault. I did this. Me, Kenzi. I am not some pathetic human liability.

I am still Kenzi. I have to keep telling myself this. I don't feel much like me right now. I can act like me, I've been being me. Nobody's noticed any differences. I just don't feel the same. I feel like I'm just acting now. I'm an actor.

I want out, I want to scream until my throat bleeds, I want to boil the oceans and burn the trees, I want this to stop.

I want to put a bullet in my brain.

...

Bo couldn't help but start to cry at the thought of Kenzi feeling so low.

How could she have not noticed?

Kenzi was her best friend. Surely she'd have seen something? Had she really been too busy with Lauren and her own "celebrating" to not notice?

Kenzi must have known what was happening to her. Not exactly, but she knew she wasn't herself any more. She knew she was losing control.

Bo had rationalized that what she had done at the compound was a mercy to Kenzi; while it appeared she was right, on some level she wanted to be wrong.

There was one last entry left in the book.

...

I took a cross bow for a walk in the woods today. I didn't want Bo to find me in the house.

I couldn't do it. Cross bows weren't exactly designed to be the easiest things for someone to shoot themselves with. But that isn't why.

It's not what I would do. I'm still me enough to know this. I am still Kenzi.

I am still Kenzi.

What would Kenzi do?

I am still Kenzi.

Kenzi would swallow her pride and go to someone who knows this sort of thing better. Defer to the experts. At the end that's what Kenzi would do. I can't fix me by myself. I can't ignore this and hope it goes away.

Another bottle of vodka and I'm going to the Light fae compound to see Lauren.

I hope there's something she can do. I hope there's something.

I hope it's not too late.

I still hope.

...

Bo put the book down and marched into the bedroom. It wasn't too late for her and Lauren.


	2. Welcome back

A/N: WOW! Writing that trailer piece really got me pumped to start the story NOW rather than on the weekend. Well that and ever since I wrote "_The Green Russian_" I've really been craving one... And now I'm working on my second, so Sparkle the hallucination unicorn has been giving me prompts. The body count is currently: 0.

Welcome to "_Love triangles and Hate squares_" Enjoy!

Play: watch?v=vGpbd6BUO0I (Welcome Home - Coheed and Cambria)

_Six weeks after Hale's death_

Bo laid on her back staring up at the stone ceiling. 'How could everything have gone so wrong?' She asked herself. 'What could I have done differently?'

She must have played that evening out in her mind a thousand times in the last month on the run. The sword, Hale, Kenzi, or whatever she was. She killed both of them. How could she have not? It still didn't make any sense. "Damn it, Hale, why did you do that?" she said aloud to nobody in particular.

'Why did you have to go and be a fucking hero like that?'

Even now, she remembered the rush of power she felt flowing from the sword. It was clearly more than a piece of metal. The anger and the power it gave her while she held it still tugged at the back of her mind.

"Perfect," she sighed without meaning to verbalize the emotion.

She recoiled at her own words. 'No, not perfect,' she scolded herself. She killed people. People she loved. Hale and Kenzi were basically family. Their auras always glowed brighter when they were together. And she killed them, in cold blood?

'Did I?' she asked herself. 'Is that why I killed them?' She really didn't know why. It had to be done, she knew that. There really wasn't another option. Hale was right, she couldn't have just given over the sword to the creature inhabiting her best friend.

Every scenario she thought of where she just gave in and handed the sword over ended in death. Not just hers or her friends, those were only the best case scenarios.

So if she did the right thing, then why did her actions eat at her so? This combined with the memories of rage and vengeance against the monster that took her best friend from her had eaten away at Bo over the last six weeks.

She did everything she could to hide, not only from the fae but from herself. That little voice in the back of her mind that said 'it was ok.' What she did was far from ok.

Even before that.

Lauren had finally told her about what had happened with the Norn, and outside her house.

Bo lurched at the memory. She didn't remember doing any of it, but Lauren's face, her demeanor, while she was explaining what she thought happened made Bo sick to her stomach. All she could remember was her desire for vengeance. The Norn only hurt, she never helped. She paid.

She wondered if all that anger and blood lust belonged to the sword or if it was hers?

Bo never wanted to talk about it with Lauren. The beautiful Doctor had tried to bring up the subject several times after Bo had mentioned what she had felt. But Bo would have none of it. The whole thing was a slippery slope. The more she talked about it, the more she felt it, the more she desired that feeling.

She hated feeling like that.

'Why hadn't Hale reacted the same way to the sword?' She pondered. He seemed virtually unaffected by the sword. It didn't overpower his will and take control of him as it had seemed to do to her. She focused harder on the memory of Hale wielding the sword for the first time. It was clear he was still him, his swordsmanship with such a large blade was clumsy at best.

But his aura, it diminished substantially when he directed the blade at Kenzi.

She didn't want to think about this anymore, it hurt.

Bo did her best to bury those feelings deep inside and hold them down, under the water, inside the tears.

She couldn't count the times she'd failed to keep those feelings from overwhelming her. But Lauren had always made it all better.

Bo had fucked her way out of fits of irrepressible rage on a nearly daily basis recently. Pretty much since she and Lauren ran away.

Lauren still hadn't perfected her 'human treatment' and Bo still had to revive her from a state of near death with a breath of chi each time the doctor treated herself before being intimate with the succubus. It seemed as though it were getting easier each time. Bo wasn't sure if she were getting used to watching Lauren die or if Lauren were used to nearly dying before they could be totally intimate with each other.

Death and sex. Sex and death.

The flow of iridescent ruby chi from her lover's lips to hers excited Bo on every level. Feeling how she could make Lauren feel was incredible. She got off on getting the blonde off.

She hadn't noticed at first, but each time she needed more. More, more and more of her! It was never enough, and Lauren just gave and gave until the two were sated. It was truly amazing, it was the longest time since she realized she was different that Bo had never felt her hunger nagging at her.

She wasn't having sex with Lauren to feed because she had to feed any more. She wanted to feed. It felt so good. Without Lauren at her side, without being inside Lauren, Bo felt awful. Headaches, stomach aches and joint pain began to plague her only a few hours after being with Lauren. Now, after nearly a week she could barely move.

It was more than that though, her mind crept back to how she felt holding the Avenging Sword. That duality of anger and vengeance completed her being and she did not know why. She wasn't comfortable feeling that way.

It physically hurt her to feel that way. To wish for that sort of strength and focus. It wasn't who she wanted to be. So every time those feelings crept under her skin she'd lean into her lover.

She spent so much time fucking the hate and the evil out of herself, she never considered Lauren's feelings.

...

Play: watch?v=Ri7-vnrJD3k (Adele - Set Fire To The Rain)

Lauren had told Bo about Kenzi's funeral.

Bo was too busy, lost in herself, fighting her nature for control, to be able to attend. On some level Bo was thankful for that. She wanted to be as far away from her loved ones as she could if she wasn't able to control herself.

The last thing she wanted to do was hurt someone.

It was a huge risk she had always taken as a succubus, being with a human. She couldn't be monogamous. Or so she had thought until Lauren was forced to try her serum on herself.

That was a day Bo desperately wished she could forget; she had tried in vain but that instance ruled her life as long as she stayed with the gorgeous blonde doctor. Giving in to herself, killing the Norn, killing all those people, overloading on chi. Lauren had saved her from an oblivion within herself as a monster.

Sometimes she caught herself thinking of how badly that situation could have become. And again she felt the pull of the Avenging Sword. The focus. Her sole purpose of existence was vengeance, pure and simple. Everything lined up straight and true with the weapon in her hands. But it wasn't her, she demanded of herself. That would never be her again.

She wanted Kenzi back. She wanted Lauren back. Hell, she even wanted Dyson back. She hadn't seen the wolf in so long, or at least so she thought.

It all came back to 'how did I get here?'

She remembered a quote Hale spoke at Kenzi's funeral, "Our love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source."

Is this what happened between her and Lauren? Bo considered Lauren's feelings that she'd felt while drawing chi from her. She started to connect the dots. Perhaps weeks too late.

While she drew feelings of such love from the blonde, what was she leaving her in return? Were these emotions simply shared through their connection or were they taken? Was that why Lauren left her?

Bo shuddered to think of it. She'd only been away a week. Bo had laid on this floor every day since she turned herself in, thinking. The coldness was a sort of comfort. It aligned with her sense of being. Without Lauren she was cold.

She wasn't hungry, yet. It had been only a week and she was still feeling pretty strong.

Her mind ached for Lauren, but her body kept itself in control.

Her thoughts drifted back to the night she left. Well, she thought she left. But it seemed just as likely that she had been kicked out. 'Fifty-fifty,' Bo tried to rationalize the contradicting thoughts. They had exchanged some pretty hateful words.

It was clear Lauren wasn't happy any more. Bo just couldn't figure out why. She hadn't changed anything. Well, anything except her hair. But that wasn't really her fault, and even if it was...

In truth Bo didn't understand Lauren. She never could. It wasn't just all the smarty-pants science queen stuff. Beneath that, she was a complete mystery. She never knew what really made that woman tick.

It wasn't until the serum and the red chi that Bo thought she could meet the real Lauren Lewis.

But even with direct access to Lauren's memories, Bo still couldn't piece everything together. There were some big gaps in her past. Lauren always talked her way around them. Afghanistan, post-traumatic stress, Africa... Nadia, but she never could explain them.

It was like Lauren was only ever half here. Half alive.

Every time Bo saw something, and wanted to talk to her about it, Lauren shut right down. She was good at that. Good at avoiding the big stuff. But Bo was no better, she couldn't judge.

All she wanted was Lauren.

'Why didn't I stay?' she thought. "I should have stayed," the words escaped her lips as no more than a whisper. Of course they were true, but Bo always acted rashly when she was upset.

That's how she'd ended up here. She went and did exactly what she said she would; she called her own bluff. Kind of a stupid move to turn herself in out of spite for Lauren.

Maybe she thought the blonde would come and rescue her. But it had already been a week and Lauren never showed. She was probably long gone by now.

She definitely hadn't expected what came next.

...

Play: watch?v=H25iM7eRiIQ (Two Steps from Hell - False King)

The heavy cell door shuddered open and Bo rolled her head towards the door as she heard Trick's voice.

"It's time to go, hurry up," he stated calmly as he urged the succubus to stand.

It had been a while since Bo had been so mobile, she was shaky getting to her feet and her diminutive grandfather didn't provide the greatest support.

"What, how... why?" Bo stammered as Trick led her though the halls of the Light's dungeons. Past several smaller guards kitted out in full body armour, face masks, helmets and rifles, the works.

"They're new," she remarked.

"Not now!" Trick barked as he hurried her up the staircase towards the central atrium.

The jailor left them at the top of the stone staircase with a bow to Trick.

Bo just looked on in confusion, as she was putting most of her effort into keeping her feet working.

"The name of the Blood King still carries some weight," he smiled happily to Bo as they crossed the lobby and exited the building into a waiting town car.

Once they were both seated and the car exited the compound, Trick began to explain, "I would have come for you sooner. However, the dungeons were the safest place for you. But a lot has changed in the past few weeks. I'd thought you dead, or worse, originally." He started, "but then Victor here found you and the doctor hiding out East." Trick gestured towards the driver of the car.

"Who's -" Bo started.

"Victor is a very old friend," Trick smiled warmly. "We can trust him, he's taken over for Dyson at the precinct while he recovers."

"What about Tamsin?" Bo asked, still confused as to why the curly haired lumberjack driving the car was the one who Trick chose to accompany him.

Trick looked down as he pursed his lips, "That's a story for another time."

A/N: I'm baaaaaack! :p Not like I really went anywhere. Oh by the way, the quote "Deep vengeance is the daughter of deep silence" belongs to Vittorio Alfieri, I didn't have enough room to fit his weird ass foreign name into the story summary. So I'll let you know he said that, because I'm not that clever. This is going to start kind of slow (but still with an awesome factor of 11) with a few major POV jumps for the first three chapters (or not) before we get back to Bo and Trick, I hope it doesn't feel too disjointed. Chapter three (or maybe four? or never?) is going to be Vex centric (I think) so look forward to that, I think it's going to be fun, scary and weird all at the same time


	3. Wandering home

A/N: So all of my excessively long author notes and any responses you've got for me are being sent here: topic/129254/86812974/1/Love-triangles-Hate-square s-Author-notes-and-rants . Enjoy the show!

**Play: watch?v=f5IRI4oHKNU (The Zombies - She's Not There)**

The three of them drove along silently in the car while Bo sized up Tricks new 'old friend'. His black curls reached his shoulders and his beard matched them in length. With his red checkered, flannel coat, he really did look like a lumberjack.

Bo watched as his hair scraped across the headliner of the town car. 'Swish-swish' over every bump as they made their way into town. It seemed as though they were on their way to the Dal.

She closed her eyes and thought of the good times she'd had there with her friends. She imagined opening the inviting wooden doors and seeing Lauren perched on a bar stool, cold beer in hand, ready to welcome her back to the real world as if everything had just been a dream.

It was a pleasant vision for sure. Enough to make anyone dread opening their eyes.

She was jarred from her vision with the sharp push of the door against her right arm as she turned to see the garbage truck that had just collided with the side of their sedan at considerable speed.

She turned back to look at Trick as the glass of the window beside her shattered and sprayed into her neck and the back of her head.

Trick had obviously seen the collision coming and was already shielding himself against the opposite side of the car. She glimpsed his wide eyes as the car rolled onto its roof and slid to a stop in the middle of the street.

Somewhere in this chaos, Victor had already managed to escape from the vehicle. From the snippets Bo heard, he was already outside generating screams from the drivers of the garbage truck.

She looked over at Trick.

"I'm fine," he said reassuringly. The left side of his head was bleeding a little. But nothing too bad.

In truth, Bo had taken the worst of the collision. Broken glass clung to the bottom edges of her neck and in her short hair. A few shards had scraped along her right cheek and blood was starting to run out of the cuts. Her right shoulder had taken a pretty severe jolt and bolts of pain rushed up her arm from her elbow into her shoulder and along her back. She gritted her teeth, "Me too."

It was quiet outside now. Victor had gone, or had his ass kicked, or something. She could hear the footsteps of men around the overturned car. She reached to undo her seatbelt but it had jammed shut and would not release.

The men were right next to the vehicle now, Bo looked over at Trick who seemed to be playing dead.

"She's not here," Bo heard one of the men say as she quickly did the same.

"Check the trunk!" another of them commanded.

"Empty," she heard the first say. "Where'd the big guy go?"

"Pussy probably ran away," the other man said.

As the voices trailed off, Bo heard their laughter, then Trick's. "Cummon, let's get out of here," he said before cutting himself free of his seatbelt and handing his knife to Bo. "We need to get to the Dal before they do!"

...

**Play: watch?v=X1ag8kapwUk (Bon Iver - The Wolves)**

_**22 hours earlier**_

_I awoke in the forest, or what was left of it_,_ again. Not comfortably tucked into a big_,_ fancy bed this time. No, this time I awoke face down in the ashes. My first breath was just dust and I stood up coughing. I wouldn't be taken advantage of this time_,_ though._

_I looked around at the burnt up trees that surrounded me. Then up at a sky that was glowing red and __raining__ embers down like snowflakes. I was inside the tree line outside the clearing from before._

_'This must be my next dream or whatever this was_,_' I thought to myself. I was going to find the wolf and stop him from escaping or killing me or whatever it was that he wanted. If there was something he wanted_,_ I decided that I would do whatever I could to stop it._

_"Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice... er... won't get fooled again!" I laughed to myself, walking towards the clearing with my eyes open. I scanned the burnt out woods for my assailant. Or was he my assassin for real this time?_

_In the middle of the clearing I spotted the large_,_ brass_,_ four poster bed I'd woken up in before. Now a melted shadow of its former cushiness. Never before had I slept on something so comfortable. A small part of me wept for that bed. _

_Until I noticed a blonde form on-top of it. "Tamsin?" I whispered from the edge of the clearing._

_"Tamsin!" I said louder this time._

_She moved. She definitely moved! _

_"Fuck you Kenzi, I'm not telling you shit!" I heard the blonde moan._

_I circled around the edge of the tree line to her side to get a better view. It was definitely Tamsin. _

_"Hey, psssst, over here!" I whispered urgently as she whirled her head around in my direction._

_I watched her hazel eyes search for me before I stepped out from the cover of the burnt up forest. "Fuck off, you're not killing me twice," she said_,_ dragging herself from the melted bed-frame._

_As I moved closer_,_ I noticed her working to keep the melted pile of brass between us, "What's going on?" I asked, stepping closer._

_The blonde shrieked and hurled a chunk of melted brass at my head before making a b-line for the woods._

_I put my hands up to stop the piece of bed frame but it sailed right through them as if I were made of air, or a ghost. _

_"Fuck! I'm a ghost! I'm dead for real this time!" I stomped at the ground. "Hey Tamsin! Come back, I'm not him or he's not me or whatever. Real human Kenzi, really fucking confused." _

_I continued to shout after her but she kept running, "COME BACK HERE BITCH!" I screamed in desperation._

_Tamsin finally stopped at the far edge of the clearing. "Prove you're really Kenzi!" She shouted back._

_"You're a conniving bitch and I don't know why Bo likes you. Proof enough?" I yelled back. The wolf had basically been in my head, it's not like he'd have said anything different anyways. But I wasn't about to tell her that. I needed Tamsin's help if I wanted to get out of here. This was her world, not mine_,_ but I'd never admit to it. _

_The irony of my last comment did not escape me._

_Tamsin just stood looking at me from across the burnt_,_ grassy clearing for a moment. I figured she was making up her mind as to whether she could trust me or not._

_I didn't trust her, but what choice did I have? Be stuck here and wait for the wolf like last time? "Yeah, because that ended so well." I scolded myself._

_"Will you common already? If Fenrir was me_,_ don't you think I'd have already killed you again_,_ if that's what I wanted?" I shouted_,_ hoping perhaps a dose of logic might sway her from her spot._

_"You know what this place is_,_ don't you?" Tamsin asked as she came back towards me._

_"Last time I was here Fenrir said it was a sort of purgatory?" _

_"Pretty much, __**he**__ built it for the Fenrir after his son killed the wolf. So Fenrir could never again be set upon the earth to finish what he started."_

_"He, who?" I asked. Whoever he was must have some serious mojo if he built a whole fake universe. Fenrir must be serious__ly__ bad news if it takes a whole universe to imprison him. The idea of 'escaping' seemed more like a dream at this point._

_Tamsin put her hand to her mouth as she looked around at the hellscape around them, "We don't speak his name." She whispered._

_"Oh. My. God! Don't tell me Harry Potter is real. Just don't. I don't think I could take that right now!" I said_,_ standing back, her boss was Voldemort! Crap! How did that movie end..._

_Tamsin landed a solid open handed slap against my cheek to jolt me out of my __thoughts __, "This is not the time to joke around, I don't want to be here any more than you do._"

_"Then might I suggest you cease abusing the one with the power to bring you home?" A gravelly voice said from behind the pair._

_They both turned to watch a man with black hair and a cane step out from a cloud of black smoke. _

_Tamsin was on her knees immediately, "A thousand pardons_,_ master, I didn't mean to... wait, Kenzi?"_

_"No need for apologies __Valkyrie__, they won't do you any good. I suppose your failing is my own. I should have known you were too old and too weak for this assignment." He paused for a moment to glance at me before returning his attention to Tamsin. "Nevertheless you must be punished for your failure, so long as the beast Fenrir remains in the realm of man_,_ so shall you remain here. Once he is slain I will return for you and you may take your place at my side." His speech had a sense of old world dignity and entitlement. I didn't like him one bit._

_"But master how can I..." Tamsin began, basically groveling. I'd never seen her like this before._

_He silenced her with a wave of his hand and pointed at me, "The human may serve as your proxy. If she so wishes._"

_"Please_,_ Kenzi!" Tamsin begged from her knees, wrapping her arms around my waist._

_I backed up, but she held tight. "A moment ago you didn't want to be anywhere near me. What gives?" I asked. But I knew right away when she looked up at me, her blue-green eyes full of tears. _

_It didn't matter what we thought about each other before_. _She needed my help and ever since I met Bo_,_ that's what I've been doing. Helping people who need it. _

_Tamsin definitely needed help. Like it or not_,_ I had to own up to the fact that I played a pretty major role in killing her. If there was anything I could do... "I'll do it." I said._

_"Very well, the human will serve as proxy." He stated before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke._

_"Thank you_,_ Kenzi_,_" Tamsin said, and then I was here._

...

**Play: watch?v=hVzU-Qp5fE (Dion - The Wanderer)**

"What do you mean _here?_" Trick asked as Kenzi finished her story.

"Well, like not _here, _here at the Dal. But here like, I don't know, earth?" Kenzi said as she tried in vain to explain how she came to be at the Dal this afternoon.

"Ok, so how did you get to the bar then?" Trick asked with the concerned grandfather look still plastered on his face. The truth was, after Fenrir had deceived him once by pretending to be Kenzi, he wasn't going to take any chances.

Kenzi recognized the face he was making immediately, it was the same face Tamsin had made in the forest. She took the knife he had been using to cut lemons from the bar and cut the palm of her left hand open. "Human enough for you now?" She asked, dropping the knife onto the bar and watching the blood drip from her open hand.

"Yes, but..." Trick began his questioning again but Kenzi was in no mood for it. She was dog tired. She needed some shut eye.

"I woke up at the Dark fae compound, okay? Some dude, claiming loyalty to the Blood King, helped me escape." Kenzi said, glossing over any of the important details. If Trick didn't know already, she wasn't going to tell him. He didn't need to know anyways. Kenzi needed to talk to Bo. That was her problem.

"Where is Bo anyways, Trickster?"

"Light fae dungeons," Dyson answered flatly from the shadows.

"Jesus, D-man!" Kenzi jumped, "How long have you been sitting there?" She paused for a moment, "WHAT! Dungeons?!" The reality sank in.

"She's not safe there any more Trick," Dyson said without getting up from his seat.

"I know, I'll take Victor and go get her first thing tomorrow." Trick sighed. Bo wasn't safe anywhere any more.

"She's not going to be happy," Dyson said, looking sombre as he hung his head.

"Unhappy Bo is better than unsafe Bo," Kenzi jumped in and Trick nodded, "I'm coming with." She declared.

"No, you're going to stay with Dyson tonight." Trick insisted.

"Please no!" Dyson begged. "What do you want me to do, bleed on them if they come for her?" He asked sheepishly. "I'm not-" Dyson started, but he thought better of it.

"I know," Trick said, "But we still need you. Bo needs you."

A/N: Again my crazy post-writing BS is going here: topic/129254/86812974/1/Love-triangles-Hate-square s-Author-notes-and-rants


	4. Animus Vex

A/N: I know, I should really finish off that Tamsin/Bo two-shot. But writing sexy-times always makes me uncomfortable, no matter how I write it. Plus, I haven't had nearly enough liquor to inspire me to complete it today (too much time working on my car on the long weekend to drink). I've been going through violence withdrawals since classes ended for the summer, now I've got nothing to punch. So maybe I'll try and punch up this story by injecting some Vex. Check it out! (What's the worst that could happen? Answer: I could completely forget to post this chapter... again)

**Play: watch?v=4AhpoqTkuwY (Apparat - You Don't Know Me)**

Fenrir looked at his reflection in the mirrored glass outside the Morrigan's office. He'd been a wolf for so long he'd forgotten what he looked like as a man. He had made it blatantly obvious that he despised Evony, but he had to admit that the woman chose her people well.

Particularly her fashion people.

At nearly ten feet tall, it wasn't as though they could have just gone out and bought him a suit. But there he stood, staring at his own reflection wearing a three piece tailored suit. Black jacket, black vest, black shirt and an ivory tie. Evony's people told him he looked respectable, yet imposing, but not overly so.

Fenrir had even let them cut his hair and shave his beard. The stylists had told him that, because of his size, a shaved head and face would enhance his appearance of strength.

Back when he was last among men, a full head of hair and a strong beard were the marks of a powerful man. But apparently things had changed and he was not above deferring to the opinions of those far better versed in the ways of the modern era. He considered that perhaps he had trusted too freely, not just with what he wore, but how he was operating.

Medicine and science had become the new magic while he was imprisoned. Shamans and wizards were largely replaced by doctors and scientists. Technological advancements had opened up so many worlds once considered to be off limits to normal folk.

He had put his trust in these 'experts' in the hope that he could achieve all they had promised him.

He wasn't sure if they were telling him what he wanted to hear for fear of being summarily executed or because they believed so strongly in their talents. He admitted he had no real knowledge of fashion or technology, anything he had managed to glean from the human's mind had seemed to contradict the information from the Morrigan's people. At least in regards to fashion. The human had no interest in science.

"Kenzi," he whispered to himself, still staring at his own reflection. He brushed his massive hand over his clean shaven head and placed it behind his neck as he thought of the poor human. They shared so much yet they were so different. He had rationalized the blend between her feelings and his, her memories and his, as something that was necessary for him to exist in this realm.

Still, he couldn't help but consider the girls fate. Inevitable as it was. Those around her considered her a lesser being, but she was able to surprise them at every turn and always seemed to come out on top. Her treatment reminded him of the treatment he received at the hands of the gods. A mild neglect that eventually grew into fear and imprisonment as he grew stronger in search of their admiration and acceptance. His humans would put that fear into the fae.

Kenzi was no more likely to be accepted by the fae as he was by the gods. Sooner or later, she would share the human doctor's dilemma of being trapped by the fae forever.

When Fenrir slept at night, he shared Kenzi's dreams. A number of them were personal and more or less unhelpful, childhood experiences , family, lovers; all of them visited the young girl's dreams. The dreams of particular note were the ones that woke him from his sleep, dreams of the unaligned succubus.

Everything he could learn about Ysabeau 'Bo' McCorrigan would be to his benefit if she was who he believed her to be. He knew without a doubt that Kenzi would stand by her side, "no matter what" he heard the girls voice tell him.

This was particularly disturbing when it came to one of the doctor's latest experiments. Dr. Anderson had assured him that the laboratory facility here at the Dark fae compound could not be breached. Yet she had managed to escape, even while sedated.

Dr. Anderson had told him that the rapid cloning process was far from perfect. It was the doctor's understanding that, "While a human brain could be cloned, the memories there in could not be duplicated reliably." As a result, all of the initial test subjects had gone mad and either killed themselves or had to be put down; apparently unable to resolve the conflict between the combination of his memories and the human girls.

However, since moving research and development to the Dark fae facility under supervision of his own personal doctor, the project had seen great advances. Subject twenty-one had shown great promise and tested very well. He had, had high hopes for her. Apparently she was a near perfect copy of Kenzi.

So he knew where she would go. And while Fenrir knew Bo would certainly prevent him from getting near the girl, he had someone who could get close enough to separate the two before the clone could divulge the full extent of his operations, or worse the succubus's origins. She had his dreams as often as he was afflicted by hers.

...

**Play: watch?v=17PM-UMVud8 (The Glitch Mob - Animus Vox)**

Fenrir made his way into the depths of the Dark fae compound, below the basement, below the sub-basement into the narrow corridors of the prison floor. The place reminded him of a large industrial freezer complex. Or at least it triggered those sorts of memories in his mind, they obviously belonged to the human.

Never the less the place gave him the creeps, no matter how hard he fought Kenzi's memories. The long metal doors with no windows, the white painted steel along every wall, the place was a prison for the worst criminals the Dark had. It was their Guantanamo Bay. Impersonal and confining. Even the hallways were small. Fenrir ducked and crouched his way down towards the cell he was searching for.

The jailor opened the door. He was a wiry spit-fuck of a man. Apparently he was none too happy that Fenrir had interrupted him with a prisoner.

The giant could have cared less as he stared down at him and the prisoner. "So what sort of torture is this?" He asked. It was his understanding that Evony had decreed that the traitor be tortured daily. While Fenrir was more than familiar with multiple forms of torture, he was not familiar with this method.

"It simulates drowning." The jailor said enthusiastically as he made certain the towel was secure around the prisoners head. "They call it a water board, but I never get bored." He giggled to himself maniacally.

Fenrir watched as the jailor poured a bucket of water over the prisoner's towel covered face whilst looking at his wristwatch and counting down.

In truth Fenrir didn't understand at all. The prisoner didn't scream, they didn't beg for death, they just gurgled and groaned strapped to the angled board. All of the water poured onto the prisoners face collected in a bucket below their head.

"And this is torture?" Fenrir asked, still confused. It looked more like the jailor was washing the restrained prisoner's hair.

"Oh, yes, sir," The jailor replied, "It's called water-boarding." He repeated," A human invention, sir. Very effective." The jailor replied through his yellow teeth.

"Effective at what?" Fenrir asked. He was becoming more and more sure that this 'torture' was nothing more than some pathetic show of dominance over a prisoner. As much as he was sure it wasn't a pleasant experience, it didn't seem to resemble the concept of 'torture' he remembered. Even searching Kenzi's memories he couldn't find something so banal as water-boarding.

"Extracting information, sir." He informed the giant confidently. "The human CIA have used this method to great effect."

"And what information do you hope to extract from this one?" Fenrir asked, knowing full well that there was nothing in the prisoner's mind that he wanted to know. He had all the important details already. He knew what Kenzi knew. That was more than enough. She was as close to the unaligned succubus as he could hope to get.

That was why the escape of subject twenty-one troubled him so much. If the procedure had worked she wouldn't have wanted to escape. He needed this prisoner to infiltrate _where_ she had gone. He needed to find out _why_ she had gone.

"Anything the traitor can tell us about the succubus," the jailor hunched over to pick up another bucket of water, "orders from the Morrigan."

Fenrir waived his dinner plate sized hand and signalled the jailor to drop the bucket. "That won't be necessary any longer."

"It's no use anyways, sir, this one isn't talking." The jailor sneered as he pulled the wet towel off of the prisoners head.

"That's because there's a towel over my fucking face, you bloody moron!"

Fenrir instantly recognized the man from Kenzi's memories. "Vex," he smiled. Just like Evony, he had imagined Vex to be much taller. He looked different from the human's memories, too, unshaven and without make-up. The drowned rat in front of him did not fit the image of 'Vex' the human had left in his mind.

"You're not having any fun, are you, Vex?" Fenrir asked, holding his smile. "Why don't you come back to the Dark? We'll get you your powers back and we can blow some shit up, it's more fun."

"What?" Vex said confused, "Who the fuck are you again?" He looked from the jailor to the giant standing hunched in the tiny cell.

"Who I am is not important. But what I can do for you, well, that _is,_" The giant placed his palm on Vex's shoulder.

Vex felt the heat from the man's massive hand on his shoulder as the orange prison jumpsuit he was wearing singed and burnt away around the hand. Pain, sheer unadulterated scorching pain assaulted the Mesmer's shoulder as he struggled to free himself from the board. His screams filled the small cell and filtered out into the hallway. The smell of burning flesh followed with them.

Vex hoped to pass out, he begged to pass out. He closed his eyes and attempted to will himself into unconsciousness. If it were even possible, the pain intensified and the Mesmer's eyes snapped open as a fresh wave of shrieks burst forth from him uncontrollably. He begged, pleaded for it to stop.

"Don't fight it, feel it," Fenrir commanded between Vex's cries.

It barely registered, he was in agony. But then, as suddenly as the pain began it was gone and the hand was released from his shoulder.

"That, jailor Nash, is what a man being tortured sounds like." Fenrir stated matter of fact-ly.

He turned to face Vex with a look of satisfaction.

The Mesmer was examining his completely undamaged flesh that had felt white hot only moments ago. "What _are_ you?" he asked with a flabbergasted gawk.

"I'm your salvation," Fenrir said as his usual deadpan expression returned to his face. "One more thing," he began while turning to leave, "Would you mind educating _mister_ Nash on the finer points of torture before meeting me at Evony's office in an hour?"

Jailor Nash had turned a ghostly white as he moved jerkily to undo Vex's bindings. His eyes said it all, he'd spent every day of the last few months torturing a violent, but defenceless, sociopath. The Mesmer was no longer powerless.

"Make it two hours," Vex sniggered.

A/N: Ok, so apparently that thing where I put the author notes somewhere else isn't going to work because the link shows up goofy. That and it's too much unnecessary bullshit. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person annoyed by my author notes anyways. But YAY Vex! People keep forgetting about him in their fics, and that's a real shame. He's got a part in this fic though, so yippie for that or whatever. Pineapple.

And thanks to fangirloutlet for the song suggestion: The Glitch Mob - Animus Vox. If you've got a suggestion send me a PM, I'm always looking for good stuff. If you send me any Justin Bieber I'll set Vex on you (and not in the good way).

Oh, also I've decided to sort out that first preview/trailer/not-very-good chapter with a little something else. So expect to see that this week too.


	5. Dyson's heart

**WAIT! Hold up! I just replaced the "chapter 0" trailer thing I didn't like with something much better called "Kenzi's notebook". Go check that out, then come back here.**

A/N: I don't even have a real author note for this bit (shocking!). I decided to quit drinking for a bit, it's officially Summer here so I get to play designated driver now that the Trans Am is back on the road :)

_As the voices trailed off__,__ Bo heard their laughter, then Trick's. "Cummon, let's get out of here," he said before cutting himself free of his seatbelt and handing his knife to Bo. "We need to get to the Dal before they do!"_

...

**Play: watch?v=x7n0iizglK0 (Halestorm - Love/Hate Heartbreak)**

Dyson had eventually given into Trick and had taken Kenzi back to his loft some time around midnight. They left the Blood King and his mysterious 'friend' Victor at the Dal to spring Bo from the Light fae 'pokey' as Kenzi had affectionately called it, in the morning.

Kenzi took the bed and Dyson took the floor in the front room. Not that there wasn't room enough for the two of them on his bed, but Kenzi fell asleep instantly and snored all night like an asthmatic camel. Between that and the shooting pains in his back he couldn't sleep. So he moved to the front room, he considered that 'it wasn't like his back could hurt more anyways.'

Crawling up off of the floor that morning he immediately regretted his decision to sleep there. It was still dark outside, Kenzi was still snoring in his bed and his back somehow managed to ache more than it did before he went to sleep.

He hobbled his way to the bathroom, opened the medicine cabinet and gazed upon the multitude of little orange pill bottles. White labels with unpronounceable drug names. Red pills, blue pills, a few different shaped white ones and some little yellow ones that looked like houses. Dyson grumbled and closed the cabinet. "Not today," he muttered.

He showered and dressed while Kenzi snored and mumbled. He went back to the medicine cabinet but he didn't open it. He just stared at his reflection in the dented metal mirror that served as the cabinet's door. The man's grey-blue eyes stared vacuously back into his own, "But there is something you need to see," he heard Kenzi's voice.

Dyson turned sharply to face the bedroom as what felt like a bolt of lightning tore up his right leg and into his spine. But it was all in his head. He limped over towards the chair next to his bed and gazed at the slumbering girl.

Kenzi rolled over, face down into one of the pillows and continued her snoring. He wondered how something so small and so sweet could bring such pain or make this much noise.

He must have dozed off in the chair because the next thing he heard_,_ Kenzi was talking and shaking him awake, "I will ensure that the woman you loved with all of your being ripping your life force from you becomes the last memory of your pathetic existence."

Dyson let out a growl and shoved her off of him as hard as he could. She bounced off of the bed and landed hard on the floor on the other side. Dyson did his best to ignore the shooting pain in his back and walked around to face her with his fists clenched tight.

"What the shit!" Kenzi scolded him rubbing her neck.

"What did you say?" He demanded.

"I said what the shit! As in what the shit did someone put meth in your cornflakes?" She sat on the ground beneath him, not sure whether to get up or not.

"No, before that."

"Before you decided to chuck me across the room like a crazy person?" Kenzi said_,_ looking at Dyson_,_ confused. She saw his features soften as he took a step back.

"No... Ok. Well, yes." He stammered as the realization that he had been having another flashback solidified in his foggy mind. They'd been getting worse since Kenzi had come back. He clinched his eyes and shook his head lightly trying to banish the images from his mind.

"I wanted to know if I had time for a shower before we get this show on the road. I was saying you look like you're ready to go already," Kenzi paused, "Bad dream?" She asked as she reached towards him for a hand up. She hadn't slept well_,_ either.

"Something like that," he smiled a sad smile as he grabbed her hand to pull her up off the floor.

Another jolt of pain shot up his leg and burned its way up his spine to the base of his skull. He doubled over still holding Kenzi's hand and the pair of them collapsed into a heap on the floor.

"Just slipped," Dyson winced as he let Kenzi help him up onto the edge of the bed_._

She sat there next to him. "You did _not_ just slip, D-man." She chided him, "You're slipping. I'm worried about you." She placed an arm around his shoulders and rested her head against his bicep. "Talk to me wolfman," she cooed_,_ looking up at him with her big blue eyes.

"Go have your shower, we're going to be late as it is." Dyson brushed her off of him as gently as he could. "Of the two of us, who's been killed twice recently?" He added.

Kenzi gave him a strong look. He would have to bring that up. Even if he didn't want to tell her what was bothering him, she needed someone to talk to.

'Maybe it would be better if I talked to Bo first,' Kenzi decided as she headed for the shower.

...

**Play: watch?v=u2W1Wi2U9sQ (Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture)**

Vex had finished up with jailor Nash's 'education' sooner than he had anticipated. Maybe his time with the happy sunshine gang had made him soft. 'Or maybe' Vex considered, 'maybe he just had better things to do.'

Definitely the latter he decided as he began to change out of the orange jumpsuit into something leather and decidedly more uncomfortable. His 'office', if you could call it that, had been untouched since Evony had him locked up, so he still had a few outfits.

Having some half wit attempt to torture him daily was one thing, but locking him up? For this long! Evony had crossed a line, then she'd send the Armani clad Hulk down to release him and beckon him up to her office like he owed her a favour now?

Fuck that. She was getting a piece of his mind, and maybe a taste of his boots.

After admiring himself in the mirror for another ten minutes_,_ he marched down towards Evony's office, past the vacant receptionist's desk and threw open the double doors. "What kinda sick game are you playin' at?" He started before realizing Evony was not at her desk. She wasn't there at all.

Fenrir walked into the office behind Vex. His shadow obscured much of the light that flooded into the darkened office.

Vex whirled around to face him, "You? What the hell did you do to me!" He shouted rubbing his shoulder with his other hand.

Fenrir moved around the Mesmer and stood with his back to him staring out the floor to ceiling windows of the Morrigan's office. Completely ignoring the other man's question. "Evony and I had a disagreement of sorts, so she won't be joining us. For the rest of her life."

The coldness of his voice irked Vex for a moment. If only a moment. He was certainly displeased with Evony, but he didn't want her dead. "Wh- What?" He stammered, feet rooted in place.

"I've heard the body can be drained of blood in eight point six seconds given adequate vacuuming systems. I didn't believe this, I had to see it for myself." He turned to sit awkwardly behind the desk, the chair creaking under his weight.

"So you killed her? That seems a bit extreme." He paused," So what about me?" He raised his right arm over his head, "What's this gonna cost me?"

That's not _why_ he killed her. It was _how_. Vex was always able to make light of awful situations, Fenrir knew this because Kenzi knew this. He owed the tiny human a great debt, not a day went by where he didn't regret her predicament. Her feelings muddled his, and he felt guilt for the first time. Not just for what had happened to Kenzi, but for what he planned to do, what he'd already put in motion. "Nothing. If anything_,_ we're even." He looked the Mesmer in the eye as he turned on the television and walked out of the office.

So this was the new Morrigan. Vex didn't like him already. But then he looked at the TV. There was a picture of the light fae compound over the shoulder of the blonde news reporter.

Vex reached for the remote and turned up the volume.

"This was the palatial estate recently acquired by one William Haley François Santiago as it stood prior to today's bombings."

The TV showed several stock photos of the compound before the reporter continued. "And this is the video sent to us by the terrorist known only as Vex." A photo of Vex appeared on the screen.

The whole thing floored the Mesmer. He felt a sudden urge to sit down as he began to put the pieces together. He collapsed into one of the white chairs in front of the Morrigan's desk.

"This video was sent to the CBC by the terrorist, who also claims responsibility for the murder of several well respected business men and women. His motives are uncertain at this time but the RCMP are doing everything they can to bring him to justice."

Vex looked down into his lap as the video began to play. He was so totally fucked. Totally and completely. A fucking terrorist? Shit. He had to find a way out of the city.

The shaky cell phone video of the Light fae compound began to play:

_There were guards stationed all around the estate. Several at the gates. More at the doors and roving patrols around the building. All fully outfitted in body armour and gas masks covering their faces. Each carrying a rifle._

_All of a sudden every one of the guards stopped moving in unison. They turned and marched inside the building through the front doors. Every one of them left the grounds and entered the compound. _

_After a few minutes a massive explosion obliterated the building. The shockwave blasted the limbs off of nearby trees__,__ while the fireball that followed reduced what remained to cinders. A huge mushroom cloud rose into the air and obscured the morning sun._

_Bricks and mortar rained down onto the grounds along with larger shards of flaming debris. The upper floors of the enormous central building were completely destroyed. The lower floor burned and crumbled into the foundation._

_Smaller explosions could be heard from beneath the burning wreckage before the video cut off._

"As you can see_,_ the devastation is extensive," The reporter continued. "No word yet on how many perished in the attack. The police have yet to release a statement regarding this morning's attack. More as this story breaks, I'm -"

"A mindless puppet," Vex finished for her before he shut off the TV. "I've been a mindless puppet," Vex rumpled his nose. There was only one place he was safe now. That was back in the cells beneath the building. But the Dal might be safe enough, for now, if he could claim sanctuary.

"Oh_,_ cock." He sighed.

A/N: EXPLOSIONS! How fucked is Vex eh? Looks like everyone's heading to the Dal though. So that should be fun. I won't have to bounce between too many different scenes in one chapter. So far so good? What about Kenzi? Anyone got any guesses? And Lauren... She's still got her part to play, we might be seeing her again in a chapter or two. Excited? I'd really like to have a death toll from the attack on the Light fae, but I don't. So let's say lots, plus the individual assassinations of the elder's Vex is being blamed for by the human media. Once again, I've got two endings for this story... One of them has Tamsin, but it's the decidedly more "sad" ending. Danielle, what do you think?

This chapter's music choices are my own. I find them oddly apt :p


	6. The Dal Riata

A/N: I told you we'd get back to Bo and Trick eventually. It's been a very eventful morning for the happy sunshine gang... I started the next chapter with something that isn't this, but I can do that later. Lets hit the Dal. Also, 1000+ views for the Animus Vex chapter on the first day WOW! You guys rock! And here I was thinking that if it didn't have Valkubus nobody wanted to read it anymore.

**Play:** ** watch?v=-0SmXVrLlZ4 (The Be Good Tanyas - Waiting Around to Die)**

Bo and Trick made it back to the Dal without further incident. Victor was already there looking none the worse for wear. "Thanks for the help back there." Bo said to him sarcastically.

He just sort of rolled his shoulders and began taking the chairs off of the tables to help Trick set-up the pub for the day.

"What's his deal anyways?" Bo asked Trick, still holding her sore shoulder from the crash.

"Vid... , " Trick erred, "Victor doesn't speak."

"Why not?" Bo looked at Trick slightly confused. In truth she didn't really care. He had one of those faces, he looked like he was pissed off. All the time. But if Trick trusted him, that was good enough for her.

"He doesn't say." Trick smiled, "Now, let's take a look at your arm." He directed Bo over to a chair.

"I'm ok, really!" Bo insisted despite all evidence to the contrary. Lucky for her, Dyson and Kenzi stepped out of the kitchen into the bar and derailed their conversation.

Kenzi jumped at Bo and wrapped her up in the biggest hug ever. Infinite apologies and enough sorry-s to earn her Canadian citizenship poured from the petite girl.

"Kenzi?" Bo stood stunned. Nobody had bothered to tell the succubus that her best friend wasn't dead. Those weeks on the run with Lauren, the month in the Light's dungeons Bo had though she was... she didn't want to think what she thought. But Kenzi wasn't and she was happy beyond words.

Bo gave her a pat with her free hand in an attempt to comfort her friend who was still pouring her guts out. She didn't know what to say or do, "How are you _not_ dead?" She just blurted it out and instantly regretted it.

Kenzi saw Bo's revulsion at her own words and was kind enough to let them pass. She stepped back, "What happened to your arm?" She changed the subject, finally realizing why Bo wasn't hugging her back quite so fiercely.

"Looks like a dislocated shoulder," Dyson answered for her while leaning on the bar.

"Guys, I'm fine really -" Bo began but Kenzi dragged her over to a chair and pulled off the brunette's coat.

"Don't worry Bobo, I got this. It's the least I can do. What with the trying to kill you and all." Kenzi took a hold of Bo's injured arm.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure it's me who owes you, Kenz... I actually _did_ kill you." Bo frowned slightly but was perked right back up as she looked at Kenzi who was particularly excited to 'help' Bo. "Do you even know what you're doing?"

"Yeah, sure. I saw it on Discovery channel. I think." She smiled as she placed her right foot against Bo's ribs to brace herself. She pulled out and up on the arm before shoving it back into the socket with a slight click. "Cool! I've always wanted to try that!" Kenzi exclaimed proudly.

"Oww-wuh," Bo groaned as she rolled her newly relocated shoulder. She actually felt a lot better. A little hungry, and her shoulder would probably be a bit stiff for a while. But she'd live. "Thanks, Kenz." Bo said and stood out of the chair, brushing a Kenzi sized boot print off of her shirt.

Kenzi smiled from ear to ear before resuming her suffocating hugs which Bo was able to return this time.

Bo saw the front door open over Kenzi's shoulder and two soldiers stepped into the bar and stood at either side of the door. She recognized their uniforms as the same sort that the soldiers at the Light fae compound that morning wore.

In stepped elder Porter, 'Buzz' as he was affectionately called. Though, since his betrayal, the Light fae had come up with some much less polite things to call him. Unfortunately, it's quite difficult to remove an elder from the council and with half of them being killed by Aife the year before, the Light were already short on elders.

He was followed by several people with cameras and more armed security. "Trick, my good man!" Buzz beamed.

"Elder Porter," Trick nodded. He had little to no respect for the man, but his title still commanded some reverence. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company this fine fall morning?" He asked, trying not to sound too sarcastic.

"Why, I'm here to show everyone that the elders -" he paused for a moment and turned to the throng of media types that were setting up shop in the bar, "I'm here to show that the Light fae will not be bullied, we're going about our business as usual."

Trick rolled his eyes and turned to Bo and Kenzi, "Blowhard idiot is going to end up getting himself killed."

Meanwhile, elder Porter was trying to engage Victor in conversation for the cameras.

The pair looked at him confused before Trick began to tell them about Evony's downfall as leader of the Dark. Whoever it was that replaced her had set the two sides on a collision course. For all of her posturing Evony was generally in favour of maintaining the shaky peace that had existed between the sides. This new Morrigan was a hardliner of sorts. Several Light elders had been assassinated already and it was widely believed that the Dark were to blame.

"The soldiers are private security. Mercenaries." Trick continued.

"They seem a little short." Bo smirked. She looked to Kenzi for approval but the diminutive girl just shot her a sideways look.

It was true they were undersized. But they were well armed and there were more than enough of them at the compound, Trick explained to them. Each Light fae elder had been assigned a complement of them to act as body guards. A whole battalion had the compound on full lockdown. Many of the elders had temporarily relocated to the compound in an attempt to centralize their protection after a string of bombings at their family estates.

"Then where are yours?" Kenzi questioned.

"I'm not overly fond of 'big brother' looking over my shoulder. I stay out of politics and, with the exception of him," Trick motioned towards an embarrassed looking Buzz who still couldn't get a word out of Victor, "Politics usually stays out of my bar."

Suddenly cell phones began to ring and "Oh my gods" and "I don't believe its" echoed throughout the way station.

...

**Play: watch?v=NCBXtUNyXPI (Two steps from hell - Armada)**

The phone at the bar began to ring but as Trick walked behind the bar to pick it up, gunshots rang out throughout the bar. Victor had already disappeared.

Bo grabbed Kenzi and dragged her behind the bar with Trick as the soldiers began to shoot everything in sight.

One of the soldiers looked over the bar to see the three of them taking shelter and began to raise his gun before Bo stood and pulled the mercenary over the bar and began to pummel him. The soldier's gun went flying.

Whatever sort of fae the small soldiers were, they weren't much good at hand to hand combat. Kenzi watched as Bo easily took the upper hand.

Kenzi looked around behind the bar and couldn't see Dyson anywhere. The frantic shooting had stopped. Kenzi grabbed the otherwise occupied mercenary's gun and crawled to the edge of the bar and poked her head out to see Dyson still casually leaning on the outside edge of the bar surveying the carnage before him.

The occasional 'pop' from the soldiers guns could be heard as they checked over the bodies before them, making sure everyone was dead.

"What the hell, D-man?" Kenzi whispered.

Perhaps she whispered it a little too loudly as the three remaining soldiers turned from confirming their kills towards Dyson and Kenzi.

"Shit," Dyson said disappointedly and moved to ensure that the now standing Kenzi remained behind him.

The crippled wolf shifter made a poor human shield and Kenzi was able to weave past him and spray down the three soldiers before they could even raise their weapons. The butt stock of the M4 rifle rested between the little Russian's right elbow and her hip bone as she waved the muzzle of the rifle back and forth in the direction of the soldiers while she held down the trigger. The sound of automatic fire drowned out her yells.

When the rifle ran out of ammo and the bolt locked back, Kenzi was still screaming. When she opened her eyes all three soldiers were dead.

"Fuck, Kenz," was all Dyson could manage to verbalize though an expression of concern mixed with confusion.

Kenzi turned to face him with a proud smile and held a pretend phone up to her ear, "Hi, machine-guns? Yeah, this is swords. We give up. You win." She paused for applause, or perhaps a witty comment from Bo but she heard nothing. "Bo? Trick?" She asked, sounding worried.

She and Dyson walked behind the bar to see Bo and Trick staring at the body of the clearly deceased soldier Bo had grabbed.

"What is it?" Kenzi remarked at their silence.

"It's you." Bo turned to Kenzi, looking stunned.

"Yeah? You saw that! Who's the bestest?" Kenzi wiggled proudly still holding the empty rifle.

"No. Kenzi. It's you." Trick directed her attention to the soldier who no longer wore a face mask or a helmet.

Kenzi dropped the rifle and stared. Pale, perfect skin. Long black hair. Just the right amount of cute with a dash of bad ass. Aside from the red eyes and the tacky uniform ,Kenzi could have sworn she was looking into a mirror.

"How... wh - wh- uh... - Fuck." She stuttered, looking at her dead self.

She ran past Dyson around the bar and over the corpses to the other dead soldiers and franticly ripped off their face masks. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" She yelled with each mask removed. They were all the same.

She grabbed the last one and shook it. "FUCK!" She yelled louder, inches from its face. "How the fuck did you fucking fucks ... FUCK!"

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Bo put a comforting hand on Kenzi's shoulder and directed her away from the dead people.

...

**Play: watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0 (Jefferson Airplane -White Rabbit)**

Vex burst in the back door of the Dal and rushed through the kitchen, slipping on the greasy floor multiple times before skidding out into the silent bar 'Kramer style'.

"Sanctuary! Sanctuary! Help! I demand sanctuary, they're trying to kill me!" He began to rant until he saw all of the dead bodies littering the way station. "Oh. Bollocks." He stopped in his tracks and completely calmed his demeanor. "Uh, I'll come back later," He swung around and bumped into Dyson, who was standing between him and the kitchen.

"Who's trying to kill you?" Bo questioned the jittery Mesmer with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh, you know, the usual. EVERYONE!" Vex shot back. "Are you going to hide me or not?" He looked among the group but didn't see any faces looking sympathetic to his predicament.

"Why are people trying to kill you?" Trick asked calmly. He knew full well it was his duty as keeper of this way station to grant sanctuary to anyone who requested it. But Vex was far from the trustworthy sort.

"Where have you been anyways? You just disappeared, V-man." Kenzi added, somewhat less calmly.

"Wow, wow. One question at a time. So let's start with mine. Why do some of these dead people look like your human? And why is that corpse beeping?" Vex responded to everyone's questions with a question of his own for Bo and managed to successfully change the subject without even using his newly returned powers.

"Beeping?" Bo walked over to the dead copy of Kenzi behind the bar. "It's definitely beeping," she looked at Trick, then around the room at everyone else.

"So, uh?" Kenzi looked to Bo for direction.

But it was Dyson who provided it, "Run! Definitely run!" He moved to direct everyone through the kitchen out the back of the pub. "You can stay if you want, Vex," He added.

No sooner had everyone, including Vex, taken shelter behind Tamsin's abandoned truck when an explosion tore through the Dal. It sent flames out of the shattering windows and set off a number of car alarms on the front street.

A larger explosion followed moments later and the grey pickup truck they had taken shelter behind was pelted with chunks of bricks and flaming debris that had previously constituted the Dal Riata.

"Kenzi, can you hotwire a truck?" Trick asked hurriedly. The shock that his bar, his home, his... everything that he owned really had been destroyed in the explosive inferno was clearly evident on his face.

"Of course I can!" Kenzi reached in one of the shattered windows and unlocked the driver's door. At least she knew the real Kenzi could. Was she the real Kenzi? Was she Kenzi at all? She'd just killed three that looked exactly like her, minus the red eyes. It was hard to be sure. She looked to Bo, who simply gave the Russian a nod.

Bo knew who she was, even if she didn't. Right?

A/N: I did cheat on my not drinking & writing thing, but in my defense I was already drunk when I started writing the end of this chapter, so there's that. This is definitely my favorite chapter of this fic so far! You have no idea how hard it's been not to spill the beans on Kenzi copy thing outright. Since the first chapter of tSoS I've been hanging onto that gem. But there's a bunch more to it and I hope you guys appreciate it. Let me know in the reviews. I know it's lame to beg for them, but they really do keep me motivated. Big time credit to Danielle (my editor/fixer person) for the "nudge" to make use of the Kenzi thing from chapter one of tSoS.


	7. Kenzi's head

A/N: Pineapples taste like neither pine nor apples, what does that mean?

** watch?v=vCWdCKPtnYE (Bob Dylan - Times They are a-Changin)**

Everyone piled into Tamsin's truck as Kenzi struggled with the tangle of wires under the dash. She knew she could... but she just didn't remember. 'Why can't I remember?' Kenzi asked herself. This was supposed to be child's-play. She could hear sirens from the approaching fire trucks in the distance.

Bo evidently heard them, too, "We don't have time for this!" She slid into the driver's seat, removed her dagger from its thigh holster and jammed it into the ignition, shredding the internal mechanism as she turned it.

The truck sputtered to life. If giant bags of dead ass made sounds they would likely have sounded very much like Tamsin's shit-box truck.

"Is violence always the answer for you?" Vex sneered at the succubus from the back seat as they peeled out and down the back alley just as the fire crew pulled up out front.

"Depends who's asking the questions," Bo smiled sweetly at him.

Vex seemed to get the message.

Dyson couldn't help but crack a smile, too. Something inside him had always harboured significant resentment for the cocky Mesmer seated between him and Trick. So it was nice to see Bo putting him down. It felt good to smile, too, he hadn't had much to smile about lately.

Kenzi looked over and noticed Dyson's smile fade into a semi-permanent looking grin. "Now that's more like it, D-man," she smiled back, "You've gotta enjoy the little things."

"Hey, the way to the clubhouse is right, where are we going?" Kenzi looked at Bo with concern as the brunette took a left that would bring them right downtown.

"We? _We_ aren't going anywhere. _I'm_ going to pay a visit to the Dark and see what they were doing with you before you escaped. _You_," Bo said, referring to everyone in the truck, "are going to the clubhouse. I'll meet you there in a few hours."

"Alone?" Trick questioned her. He'd already lost so much today. 'Bo really is all I have left,' he considered before coming to the realization that she was _always_ all he had left from his old life and all that ever mattered in his new one. He lost his bar and his home just minutes ago, but even in the short term that didn't matter as long as Bo was safe. He wanted to tell her about Victor, he really did. But this wasn't the time. He didn't need everyone to know, particularly Vex.

"I nominate Dyson for the suicide mission!" Vex piped up from the back seat.

Kenzi turned to Vex, "It's not a suicide mission." She stated factually before looking to the less than affirmative faces of Trick and Dyson.

"Nobody's coming with me, I'll see you guys in a couple hours," Bo said as she pulled the 'borrowed' truck into the alley behind the office tower that housed the Dark fae compound and hopped out.

Vex leapt over the front seatback and proclaimed himself the driver after a short squabble with Kenzi. The two fought like brother and sister before Bo separated the two of them.

In the process, Kenzi lifted Vex's security pass and handed it to Bo with a wink.

The truck sped off down the alleyway, grazing a green dumpster before turning out of sight. Bo considered that 'if the fae didn't catch up with them, Vex's driving might prove their undoing.'

...

** watch?v=R7Tc9YGNDJ4 (PHILIP GLASS - Prophecies) **_in case anyone missed his music from "The Sound of Silence"._

Against all odds, Vex delivered everyone safely back to the clubhouse. The front door was completely gone now, not just ripped off its hinges like last time Kenzi was there. In the time between then and now there had obviously been a few squatters and several looters. Anything of value was gone and quite a few things that weren't valuable at all had disappeared as well.

Luckily the vending machine wouldn't fit through the front door, unfortunately it had been smashed open and emptied of the delicious snacks Kenzi was currently craving.

Dyson walked over to the couch, trying to pretend he wasn't hurting and stretched out on it. Vex's driving and the uncomfortable seats in Tamsin's truck hadn't done his back any good. He, too, had noticed the general upheaval about the place, he was glad the couch was too crummy even for a crack head to steal. It somehow actually looked messier than when Bo and Kenzi had lived here, something he hadn't thought possible before.

"Well, barricade the doors or something." Vex barked. "What about my sanctuary?" He asked, looking squarely at Trick.

"My obligation to protect you ended when you left the Dal." Trick stated calmly despite Vex's obvious attempt at rudeness.

"But..." The Mesmer began, slightly dumfounded before Dyson cut in.

"I told you that you were welcome to stay at the Dal," Dyson grinned. 'You've gotta enjoy the little things,' he said to himself while he enjoyed the minute satisfaction that messing with Vex brought him.

"I've got someone I need to go see about these soldiers." Trick announced before heading for the door. "Call me as soon as you hear from Bo."

Dyson nodded and watched Trick stroll out the door and fire up Tamsin's truck.

"Well that's lovely, I don't suppose you two are interested in locking this place down so we all don't get horribly killed if they decide to come looking for me here?" Vex asked Kenzi and Dyson, both of whom were seated on the couch. He knew full well that he wasn't going to get any help.

"Nah, we'll just give them you. Maybe we'll even get a reward?" Dyson shrugged. He'd lost enough to risk losing anything more for one of his least favorite fae. If he knew who these 'they' Vex was so worried about were, he'd have half a mind to call them himself and turn the Mesmer in.

Kenzi gave Dyson a stern look before turning her attention to the pouty Mesmer who claimed that he knew when he wasn't wanted before storming out in a huff. "What the crap was that about, D-man?"

"What?" Dyson looked at her with a raised eyebrow. He thought that Kenzi didn't want Vex around either. "I'm enjoying the little things. Like you said?"

Kenzi rolled her eyes, "That's not what I meant." She got up and yelled after Vex, "Wait up!"

"Damn it." Kenzi heard Dyson mutter, "C'mon Kenzi, we were just about to get along!" He shouted after them, but made no move to get up off the couch.

Kenzi caught up with Vex, who was sitting on the curb outside the house. "So you've come to suffer with me, have you?" Vex asked flatly without turning around when he heard Kenzi's hurried footsteps behind him.

She skidded to a stop on the gravel driveway as images and feelings began to bombard her senses.

_Everything froze, the sky began to burn as though it were on fire._

A massive headache of migraine proportions rolled up the back of her neck and sat on her head like a hat that was a size too small. Squeezing at her head. She raised both hands up to rub her temples and looked into the gravel, blinking slowly.

_Embers began to rain down from the burning sky as it swirled above her._

Kenzi gave her head a shake and tried to focus on the present. "Wha- What did you just say?" She managed to blurt out as she crashed to her knees behind Vex. She couldn't quite make out the expression on his face when he turned around. He was all blurry and far away looking, she tried to reach for him to pull him closer. She needed to know.

Vex saw the big blue eyes of the small raven haired girl before him roll into the back of her head as she fell the rest of the way towards the ground in front of him. He managed to catch her head just before it hit the ground. He pulled her onto his lap and slapped her cheek lightly, "Kenzi. Kenzi!" He said, getting louder as his urgency grew. "This isn't funny, luv, open your eyes."

She did as he asked. Or was he Mesmer-ing her? It didn't matter, either way her eyes were open and she immediately wished they weren't. She clamped them shut again, but it was too late. More visions, more memories struck her out of her consciousness again.

_She could see black winged figures descending from the inferno towards her._

Kenzi willed herself out of her mind again. She just barely made it, "WHAT DID YOU SAY!" She screamed psychotically as she grabbed Vex by the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards her until their foreheads collided.

She was burning up. Vex could feel it. She was freaking him out big time.

As if on cue, Dyson hobbled out of the crack shack and advanced on Vex in the most threatening manner he could manage. "What did you do to her!" Dyson barked as he grabbed Vex by the hair and directed him to stand.

"Nothing, NOTHING!" Vex mesmered Dyson's hands off of him. "I just asked if she'd come to suffer with me out here. That's it!" Vex said, visibly shaken.

Kenzi grabbed at the leg of Vex's pants as the two men standing over her vanished from her sight. In their place stood a solitary ghostly figure of giant proportions. His long black hair hung past his shoulders and obscured parts of his face as it intermingled with his braided beard. What struck her most though were the eyes. Jet black, lupine eyes, like glossy marbles made of blackest night.

_"The dead don't suffer, that's why you and I are still here."_

Kenzi heard the voice of the Fenris wolf, a voice that had haunted her nightmares since she returned. She closed her eyes, but the scene in front of her remained. She remembered what came next now. She remembered how this ended. Every muscle in her body tensed as she prepared herself for what was to come.

_"But you, you suffer with me, for the sins of those who came before you."_

Everything went black.

...

** watch?v=UgAFcvIw8J4 (Al green-How Can You Mend A Broken Heart)**

_About 43 minutes earlier_

Bo used Vex's pass to gain access to the building via a service entrance in the alley. The place was mostly deserted on the lower floors.

She spotted a group of people wearing light green scrubs and followed them until one of them split off into the ladies washroom. "Thank you," Bo whispered to the ceiling as she watched the rest of the group continue down a hallway to a set of double doors marked 'Research.'

A quick succubus snack and a change of clothes later, Bo was now 'Linda Marshall, Research assistant.' Unfortunately the real Linda had feet smaller than Kenzi's, so Bo had no choice but to keep her heels on. Anyone paying the slightest modicum of attention would notice that they didn't fit in. 'Shit' Bo silently cursed her less than sensible choice of footwear.

Bo stepped out from the bathroom door and bumped into a rather large man wearing a black muscle shirt and jeans. The only way he belonged in a 'research' area was if he were an experiment.

"Oh! Sorry." Bo jumped back and tried to act like she belonged, "I didn't see you there." She put on her ditzy 'I'm such a klutz' smile before brushing flirt-ily at his shirt.

She stepped around him and actually made it to within a few steps of the doors labelled 'Research' before a familiar voice made her heart skip a beat in her chest.

"Bo? I thought I told you not to try to find me the night you left?" Lauren's smugly doctor-y tone filtered through the hallway as Bo turned to confirm who was speaking to her.

The man in the muscle shirt grabbed her and began to force her back the way she came, towards the service entrance, towards where Lauren was standing.

Bo delivered a solid knee to his groin followed by an uppercut to his nose and all of a sudden Mr. Tough Guy wasn't so tough any more. He fell to his knees with a grunt, clutching his gentleman's vegetables while his nose dripped blood onto the floor.

Bo stood and examined the gorgeous woman in front of her. There was something different about Lauren. Hell, there was everything different about her. She looked amazing, more amazing than usual. Half length black leather jacket, low cut top, also black and a pair of black leather pants all rounded out by a pair of knee high black boots with a slight heel. Truthfully Lauren looked as though she'd raided Bo's closet, right down to the drop leg thigh holster on her right leg.

Except that whereas Bo's thigh holster held a dagger, Lauren's had a small Walther pistol. The moment Bo stepped towards her girlfriend, Lauren drew on her and fired a single shot into Bo's right shoulder, just below the collar bone. No words, no warning, nothing. Just bang and a sharp, searing heat radiated through the succubus's shoulder, staggering her backwards.

The clinical expression on Lauren's face never wavered. The eyes that had repeatedly undressed Bo with their passion every time they met were now cold and emotionless. Gone was the gaze that compelled her to act upon the desires within her that classified somewhere between kinky and medically inadvisable.

'What have you done to yourself?' Bo thought, 'What have I done to you?' She still hadn't asked Trick about the strange colouration of Lauren's chi. It had to mean something.

For a second, Bo didn't register that she had been shot. It wasn't nearly as shocking and terrifying as the last time. The pain wasn't overwhelming by any stretch of the imagination. Until Mister Muscle Shirt grabbed her by her shoulders from behind.

"You got her?" Lauren snapped at him sarcastically as she re-holstered her pistol.

Bo groaned as he squeezed her shoulder. She felt the wetness of her warm blood that poured out of the wound and down her side. There was quite a lot of blood from the feel of it as Bo was dragged back out into the alleyway following Lauren.

The last thing Bo saw before she was hurled into a dumpster like a bag of rotten meat was Lauren getting into the back seat of a silver Mercedes. She didn't even turn to look at Bo before sitting down.

"Come along, Bruce, she's not going anywhere," Lauren's voice emanated from the back seat of the car. She sounded like she was in a hurry to get somewhere.

"I'm Steve," He said and Bo heard his shuffled footsteps as he walked towards the car.

Bo didn't remember hearing the car speed off. She was in and out of consciousness for a while and hours felt like mere seconds as she lay inside the dumpster bleeding out.

Bo winced as she felt someone pull her out of the dumpster.

She felt cold, he wasn't sure how long she'd been laying in that rancid mess before he found her. Of course she was still alive, if barely. Ysabeau was special, 'It was time she learned how special,' he thought as he carried her limp body down the dark alleyway.

A/N: Yep, thats right. That all just happened. All of it. Two cliff-hangers in one chapter, because this fic has been short on those. The flashback/memory deal-ys from the middle bit are from the last chapter of "The Sound of Silence," my other 'big' fic. The Kenzi & Fenrir deal is really the 'main' part of this series, so I guess it's about time I got back to it. GAH! There's sooo many "hints" from earlier chapters (and tSoS) that I want to give away. But... Can't... Must. Not. Ruin. Surprises. I've got a feeling the next chapter is going to be massively violent, Lauren's got some explaining to do...


	8. Lupum perditionis

**Play: watch?v=cufOt5egedI (The Glitch Mob - Warrior Concerto)**

A/N: That last chapter had a mean ending. Yeah, I did that on purpose. I'd have let it hang for a bit too and finished up a Bo/Kenzi one-shot of drunkenness that I've been playing with for a while (15/06/13). But I forgot how hard Danielle (the great editor/fixer) ships Doccubus so I've been "inspired" to take care of this chapter first. I flipped a coin as to which of the two cliff-hangers from the last chapter I'd play with first. Bad news Danielle, Kenzi won... I may have rigged the coin. Rawr Kenzi! I think it'll make Lauren make more sense if this gets taken care of first. Plus, the waiting. That'll be nice right? For a fic I write to make sense for once? I ought to give up something at some point right? (Yes my nature plays a huge part in how this fic is delivered. That's what makes it different.)

When vision and sensation finally returned, Kenzi's eyes took a while to adjust to her gilded surroundings. It seemed every surface was clad in gold. A few fragments of the pillar to her right could have paid her way through life for another year. But this wasn't her reality.

In fact this wasn't her at all.

This was one of _his_ memories. One of her nightmares from the mind of the giant wolf.

She watched through his eyes as he peered low through a golden door into a chamber filled with men dressed in gorgeous flowing silks and magnificently polished armour. They were already mid-conversation when their voices began to register.

They were talking about her. About him, rather. The Fenris wolf.

"And what should we think if you keep him here? You yourself told us how prophecies had been traced that from these three siblings great mischief and disaster would arise." One of the men in the audience shouted over the fevered din of the crowd to the crowned leader sitting in a magnificent throne above them.

"Yes!" Another shouted, "due to the nature of the mother of the children, yet worse so due to the nature of their father!" He exclaimed in a higher pitched, more shrill and feminine voice than the first man possessed.

"I was getting to that." The voice of the first man cut in. "But furthermore you would cast his brother into 'that deep sea that lies round all lands' and his sister into a realm of primordial ice and cold. Yet you choose to keep this one here at home? He who arguably represents a greater threat than either of his siblings. What logic is there in this action?"

"Silence!" Another man seated in the front row stood and turned to face the others as their murmurs died down. Instantly Kenzi recognized him as Trick's friend Victor, though the fine robes and gilded armour suited him far better than plaid. His leather boots, however, were exactly the same as she remembered from the Dal. "My father's reasons are his own. As are the risks of bringing up the wolf at home. We should strive to keep our friends close, but our enemies closer. Or are you as foolish as you are cowardly?"

Having never heard Victor speak before, she was surprised as to what a wonderfully true voice he possessed. He didn't sound anything like she had imagined, his voice had an almost lyrical quality to it.

'It was a beautiful shame that he no longer spoke,' the thought fluttered into her mind. Though it was clearly not her own, she couldn't help but agree.

The leader stood from his throne and leaned lightly on an oddly ordinary looking black walking stick. "So it is agreed. Fenrisúlfr will live among us and you are to care for him as one of our own. He must never be told of his true nature." He tapped the walking stick lightly on the ground in front of him and vanished in a cloud of thick black smoke.

...

Vex and Dyson had brought Kenzi back inside the clubhouse and tried to rouse her several times. But Fenrir's memories continued to circulate in Kenzi's unconsciousness as she lay in Bo's bed.

...

**Play: watch?v=D9s18rUaubc (Juno Reactor - Navras)**

Of all the gods in that gold room, only a fair haired god by the name of Týr had the courage to approach Fenrir, and give Fenrir food, even as a pup. Týr was the only one who treated Fenrir as he had been instructed to. All of the others treated him with the sort of mild neglect that Kenzi herself knew all too well being a human amongst the fae. But there was something more than just that. She saw it in everyone's eyes, a reverence or fear of some sort that stemmed from a prophesy concerning Fenrir. Over time the two became friends, or at least what Fenrir had approximated friendship with a 'god' to be like. Kenzi considered that, 'if anything Týr was more like his keeper than his friend.'

Týr was renowned for his courage long before he had accepted the task of caring for Fenrir. The man's dedication to fairness and distaste for the arbitrary rules and judgement of his peers reminded Kenzi of Bo more than a little.

Under Týr's care, Fenrir grew at an astounding rate. Far larger than a normal wolf. When he learned to take the shape of a man he towered over those around him.

The gods, too, had noticed that Fenrir was growing rapidly every day, and since all prophecies foretold that Fenrir was destined to cause them harm, some of the gods formed a plan.

With his massive size came equally great strength. He had begun to earn nearly as much fame for his strength as he had from the prophecy. Beyond what he had overheard in the golden room many years ago he knew very little about this prophecy.

The gods plan was deceptively simple, they brought forth a huge chain they had named 'Leyding'. They placed the chain before Fenrir and suggested he try his strength against it.

Fenrir examined the bindings for some time and eventually determined that they were not beyond his strength. He allowed the gods to chain him with Leyding in any fashion they pleased so as he could not escape.

When the gods were satisfied that Fenrir was bound securely they backed away, "Begin!" One of them commanded.

Fenrir looked to his one true friend, Týr, before beginning.

Týr held out his right hand and gave the great wolf a thumbs up.

With one kick the chain shattered, and Fenrir loosened himself from Leyding. He marched triumphantly around the gods, who were looking less than ecstatic that he had managed to so easily destroy the fetter.

Many months later they returned with another chain dubbed 'Dromi'. The gods claimed that it was twice the strength of Leyding and that should Fenrir be able to break free from such a magnificent feat of metallurgy he would surely gain great fame for his strength.

Once again, Kenzi watched through Fenrir's eyes as he examined the enormous chains. While Dromi looked very formidable indeed, vastly superior to Leyding he had broken earlier, Fenrir considered that his strength had also improved over the last few months. But Fenrir considered that if he were to become famous and earn his place among the gods he would have to take some risks.

As before, the gods bound the wolf with Dromi and when they were satisfied that he was securely immobile they backed away and one of them shouted, "Begin!"

Týr held out his right hand and gave the great wolf a thumbs up.

Fenrir kicked at the chain like he had done before, but it held fast. He strained against the metal and snapped at it with his teeth. Still nothing, the gods around him were beginning to look very pleased with themselves.

The wolf gave one last try, knocking the chains against the ground beneath him and kicking with his feet, he was able to break free as Dromi shattered explosively, sending pieces flying far off into the distance.

Fenrir stood triumphantly as he shook off the last broken pieces of the binding. Surely now he would be accepted among the gods.

The gods looked on in disbelief. They were worried they would not be able to bind the wolf, their simple plan now seemed much more complicated than they had originally imagined.

Many more of the gods began to plot and scheme behind Fenrir's back. He was no longer a small pup and he couldn't eavesdrop on meetings in the golden hall like he had done before. But he still heard things, whispers in dark corners from nameless faces. He heard that the gods did not plan to release him once he was bound and that they had begun searching for a fetter stronger than Dromi.

He learned that the God King himself was complicit in the plan to bind him forever. Odin had sent a messenger to the realm of dwarves to request that they attempt to forge a chain that was impossible to break.

The chain called 'Gleipnir' would be formed of six impossible things: the sound of a cat's footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish and the spittle of a bird.

It was nearly a year since he had broken free from Dromi, on the island Lyngvi, that the gods came before Fenrir with the Gleipnir.

The fetter was little more than a silken ribbon, but the gods assured him it was much stronger than it looked. They passed the delicate looking band amongst themselves, each grabbing at the fine chain and attempting to tear it with their hands. But not even the strongest among them were able to do so.

The Gleipnir was placed on the ground in front of Fenrir as the gods looked among themselves. While they could not break the string-like binding, they all agreed loudly that they were sure Fenrir would be able to. Having broken huge iron and steel chains beforehand, something so slender should not be beyond his now famous strength.

Fenrir examined Gleipnir in the same fashion as he had examined Leyding and Dromi previously. "It looks to me that with this ribbon as though I will gain no fame from it if I do tear apart such a slender band, but if it is made with art and trickery, then even if it does look thin, this band is not going on my legs." He announced to the gods gathered before him on the island.

He knew for certain that he would not be released if he could not break free from Gleipnir. Given the high likelihood that the dwarves had forged the band with magic, he would be unable to estimate the fetter's strength without testing it against his own. The risk was simply unacceptable, so he would decline.

The gods balked at Fenrir's refusal to be bound by the Gleipnir and reminded him that he had previously broken huge iron chains.

Victor stepped forward and added that, "If you are unable to break such slender bindings, then the prophecy is mistaken and you are no threat to the gods. If that is the case you will certainly be freed."

The son of Odin made an excellent point. Should he refuse now, Fenrir would be declared a coward and much of his hard won fame would be lost. He knew the gods were trying to trick him, but he had thought of a way around their games. "If you bind me so that I am unable to release myself, then you will be standing by in such a way that I should have to wait a long time before I got any help from you. I am reluctant to have this band put on me. But rather than that you question my courage, let someone put his hand in my mouth as a pledge that this is done in good faith." Fenrir grinned at his reversal of logic. Surely none among them would be so foolish as to accept such an offer if they truly meant to bind him forever.

The gods looked among themselves. Knowing their own treachery; none of them were willing to give in to such a request.

None except Týr who held out his right hand and gave the wolf the same trusting smile he had before. And so Fenrir was bound with the Gleipnir.

Once the familiar shout of, "begin!" Reached his ears Fenrir began to kick and strain at the slender silken bindings. Each kick, each pull and each slam into the earth only served to strengthen the Gleipnir.

After several long minutes of thrashing and pulling against his restraints, Fenrir admitted defeat. Clearly the magical forgings were beyond even his awesome strength.

The gods looked on with wicked smiles. All except Týr, who lost his right arm at that very moment.

Fenrir couldn't believe the trickery of his friend. He has certainly expected it from the others. But Týr? He watched the blood pour from his supposed friend's arm as the man backed out of sight with an ashamed look on his face. Meanwhile, the other gods closed in around him.

The enormous wolf reacted violently, snapping his wide jaws at all who came near.

The gods responded by thrusting a colossal sword between the immobilized wolf's jaws, the hilt of the sword placed on Fenrir's lower gums and the point in his upper gums.

Fenrir's eyes burned with hatred for the gods. His soul boiled with rage. He howled horribly and a river of saliva and blood ran from his mouth as the gods secured his fetter to an anchor stone deep within the ground.

There he would remain for centuries, until Ragnarök, the day of judgement for all those who had wronged him.

Kenzi knew he wondered why the gods did not simply kill him. She wondered it herself. Perhaps he couldn't _be_ killed?

...

**Play: watch?v=JvVC1A8_qiw (Harry Potter Theme (Metal)) **_I don't even know dudes... But why the hell not?_

Kenzi awoke in Bo's bed to the sound of the storm raging outside. Rain, sleet and hail battered against the windows of the clubhouse. Her head was spinning as she looked around the room and noticed the two bodies laying on the king size bed with her.

Despite the horrific nightmares that were Fenrir's memories, Kenzi couldn't help but grin at the scene before her. Dyson and Vex, cuddled up against each other on Bo's bed during a thunderstorm. 'Spooning almost,' she giggled quietly to herself not wanting to interrupt their bromantic man-nap.

If she didn't know any better, she'd have sworn they were friends.

A/N: Well, that's a reasonably accurate re-telling of the basics of the myth/legend/whatever of the Fenris wolf. I took a number of creative liberties with the tale and a number of un-creative liberties with it as well. I'm wondering if this would have been something to have placed earlier in the fic? But I'd hate to tell you too much... you might figure everything out before I get to the last chapter. Speaking of figuring things out I really, really, honestly and truthfully was going to spill the beans about 'Victor's' true identity in this chapter. But then I didn't, oops, my bad :p. You'll just have to keep guessing, you've got a few more hints now. Big ones too. Maybe some of you are beginning to put the pieces together now? I did leave the 'ending' to the legend of the Fenris wolf out of this chapter. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. It has it's place later in the fic. Next chapter we're going to catch up with Bo and hopefully find out what's going on with Lauren. Hmmm... that might be two separate chapters. I've already got some fun stuff lined up for the Lauren part, but I have to get to the Bo part first so everything fits. Lauren haters and Lauren lovers alike should enjoy ;), let me know in the reviews which one you are!

Shout-out to Fangirloutlet (again) for directing me towards the first song in this fic (The Glitch Mob - Warrior Concerto). Awesome tunes are awesome. I've been holding onto that one for a while so if you've sent me something musical don't think I've forgotten about you, I'm just waiting for the right scene. If you've got something you think I might like and want to share it with me, send me a PM with the link to where I can find the track.

Author note length record! (pineapple)


	9. Lauren's escape

**Play: watch?v=uRj3Ulk4UJw (Al Green - Love And Happiness)**

A/N: Gold star to Danielle (editor/fixer extraordinaire) for guessing half of the "who Victor really is" mystery thinger. I'm betting the last chapter tipped off a few people. I'd bet some of you have figured out the whole thing now. So you get gold stars too. I'm not sure if we're going to get to what's happened to Bo after Lauren shot her in chapter 7 ('Kenzi's head', it's actually chapter 6 because chapter 1 is really chapter 0). But we are going to find out where Lauren was in such a hurry to be, and why. But first you might want to re-read the first part of chapter 4 ('Animus Vex') in case you missed a certain detail about Kenzi (as per suggestion from 'fangirloutlet')... Maybe check the last chapter of "The Sound of Silence" (tSoS) too, just in case. Oh, and while we're talking about stuff to re-check, if you're wondering where Tamsin is in all of this, check out tSoS chapter 8 ('The heroes') that should more than explain things...

The Mercedes floated to a stop outside the long abandoned pier nine cannery. Lauren was quickly ushered from the back seat and in through the side door of the building.

She had known the cybernetic Kenzi soldiers were being produced somewhere hidden. But she had never been told where. It was all part of the plan, of course: Destabilize the Light fae, throw the elders into chaos and then provide them a solution. In this case, that solution took the form of a private military company she had helped set up under a Light fae shell corporation.

On the day that Bo had killed Kenzi, Lauren had been watching the security feed from Hale's office on her computer. When she saw Bo run Kenzi and Hale through with the Avenging sword and saw the pair of them fall through the stained glass window at the back of the Ash's office, she knew she had to act quickly if she was going to save Kenzi. She managed to get to Kenzi before Bo did and dragged her bleeding and battered corpse out of sight.

Lauren remembered checking Kenzi's pulse and finding none, yet her eyes still moved and her mouth quivered as though she were trying to speak. The small girl's hand gripped tightly around the sword Lauren had pulled out of her.

She didn't know it then, but in saving Kenzi she had also saved the life of the Fenris wolf. The very creature she had wanted to help Bo kill.

'But that was before, and it was too late now, and she'd do the same thing again to save Kenzi and...' Lauren paused her train of thought as both Steve and Bruce escorted her through the converted cannery that was now a fully functioning bio-lab. 'And I'm rambling, even in my head I'm rambling,' she scolded herself. She had subconsciously been focusing on NOT rambling like that out loud. It was a nervous habit of hers, and a particularly bad one considering how closely she was scrutinized every time she spoke now. More than ever, she had to be perfect these days.

Lauren reached the massive multi-bed surgical suite. Nearly all of her equipment from the Light fae compound had been transferred here. She was confused and angry when she discovered that Dr. Anderson had 'stolen' her lab equipment for this. Of course he hadn't stolen it at all, she had signed it over to him without reading the document when Kenzi had come to her with the 'norn rash' in exchange for his assistance in treating her. He had lived up to his end of the bargain and proved invaluable in saving the life of the small human.

He was eager to help Kenzi immediately after the initial biopsy results had come back. She didn't know why then, but she understood now. Though he had made his motivations well known the next time she saw him, after he helped her save Kenzi the second time.

His rationale still bothered her, "Fenrir will dismantle the earth, leave it scattered across the realms, and while he does so, I would sooner be the monster's pet than his next victim." The wolf god may leave his 'pets' until last as he fulfilled his destiny but eventually they would all share the same fate.

So she would bide her time, and buy time for those she loved by serving him.

Fenrir had already started to take apart the fae piece by piece. By now the Light were a scattered band of rag-tag rebels all hunting down the wrong man. Vex...

Every single fae among the ranks of the Light who could hold or become a weapon were hunting the Mesmer. She was truly astonished that he had not been killed already. She had even heard rumors that fae had flown in from Europe with the express purpose of hunting down and killing Vex.

Meanwhile, Fenrir had become the leader of the Dark. It hadn't been that difficult. The traditions behind Dark fae politics were far older than the models observed by the Light. They were considerably simpler and more barbaric. '"You keep what you kill," straightforward enough', Lauren thought. It was no trouble at all for him to dispatch Evony once he had taken his true form and reached his full strength. The next step were the challengers. Few among the Dark fae had been brave enough to oppose Evony's ascension ninety years ago and fewer still had opposed Fenrir's. They were dealt with almost as an afterthought. It was almost too easy for them to install Fenrir as the new Morrigan.

Lauren's entourage halted her outside a large sliding door that looked to be part of the original cannery. She was still amazed as to how they had made an abandoned cannery laboratory-clean in such a short time. 'It must have taken an army of Brownies working around the clock for several days', Lauren thought to herself as she watched Dr. Anderson telepathically begin his surgery on another fifty Kenzi clones.

Dr. Anderson's greatest task was to remove the useless cloned brains from the clones and install a positronic brain that he and Dr. Lewis had worked on with the help of Mr. Woo. Initially there had been a problem with the positronic brains overloading and exploding randomly, destroying the cyborg-ed clone and a large amount of its surroundings. However Mr. Woo was able to recalibrate the positronic brains of the latest units to function more stably and even integrated the overload error into a self-destruct feature. He had never shown this much dedication to the task at hand in her lab, the only thing she'd ever seen the quiet Asian fae motivated by was a coffee break.

...

**Play: watch?v=59g5R8rwqpY (Smashing Pumpkins -The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning) **_I've been saving this one FOREVER!_

Lauren was ushered inside the door and was greeted with a dimly lit, mirrored room that would have been empty but for the three meter tall man standing there in a three piece suit, staring down at the small girl in the pod before him. The pod was the exact same one she had set up for Nadia years ago, only recalibrated for a different subject.

"Closer," he whispered in a deep baritone, barely audible over the drone of the multiple air conditioning ducts above them that cooled the room to a temperature very near freezing.

Lauren did as was asked of her while the door behind her slid closed.

As she stepped closer, she noticed the vitals that were displayed on the monitor next to the pod. They seemed consistent for someone that was in a coma. She concluded that this must be Kenzi's pod.

"So this is subject zero?" Lauren postulated aloud, knowing the truth already.

"Please Doctor, you knew her. You can call her Kenzi. It's ok." He said quietly, without breaking his gaze from the girl in the pod. "It is deep how you can be so shallow. When you need to be." He added, finally turning his attention to Lauren once he finished speaking.

Lauren watched as his dark eyes searched her face for any telling micro-expression. Her brow furrowed slightly before she spoke, "Is Kenzi alright?" She was genuinely concerned, for both the comatose girl and for herself as well, now.

"That's not why I asked you here." He said, cutting immediately to what he assumed Lauren's point was. "I believe you've been less than genuine with your commitment to our plan."

He was expressionless, difficult to read. Lauren wasn't sure of his intentions, but she had some ideas, none were good. She decided to stand her ground. She'd been nothing short of the perfect partner in all of this. "I- I don't understand," Lauren forced out. She kept her posture straight and her eye contact unwavering, but she couldn't hide the hitch in her voice. She knew he noticed.

Lauren was kicking herself inside. Bo would never slip up so obviously, Bo would have kept control of the situation. She had to be more like Bo if she wanted to get out of this alive. 'Be more like Bo, be more like Bo,' her mantra ran through her head.

"Then allow me to put your concerns at ease, Morrigan." Lauren used his fae title in an attempt to push him out of this train of thought and move the conversation in a 'not killing the blonde doctor' direction. It seemed to work.

"Follow me then." He lead Lauren out of Kenzi's pod freezer and across the surgical hall.

Lauren marveled at the intricate work involved in installing the positronic brains into the clones. All fifty from the latest batch still lay out on the operating tables. Each incision was identical, each stitch matched the last on every body.

Mr. Woo was making his way around, activating each cyborg Kenzi individually with a focused electric pulse from his long slender fingers. He winced every time he jolted one of them.

Each Kenzi sat up off of the operating table and performed the same series of function check movements before walking out of the room.

The ballet of it all was sickeningly efficient. It wasn't something Lauren was proud of so much as it was something that was necessary.

It only took Kenzi's body a short time to regenerate after she died the first time; she dug herself out of her grave three days later. Three days, that's how long it took to grow each of these clones, thanks to the changes the 'norn rash' made to Kenzi's genome. That was why all of the cyborgs were Kenzi copies and not copies of someone larger or stronger. Anyone but Kenzi would have taken years to grow to full size.

Lauren couldn't imagine what the real Kenzi must feel right now. Assuming people in comas felt anything. She felt bad for her lover's best friend. But it was necessary. Everything that had happened was necessary to secure her freedom. Even if it had only fallen into her lap by chance, she was not about to let go of an opportunity to take down the fae with this high a probability of success.

She had waited and suffered too long to settle for anything less than freedom. Kenzi was her salvation, her way out, and while Kenzi might not 'live' again, in the traditional sense, she'd never die. Lauren still didn't know what she'd tell Bo when she saw her again, 'how do you apologise for something like this?' She asked herself as Fenrir opened the door to a single bed surgical suite located in what must have been another produce freezer when the cannery was still operating.

There was a great deal of specialized equipment floating around the room. Literally floating, the pair had interrupted Dr. Anderson in the middle of a procedure.

Lauren recoiled violently at the sight in front of her, though she managed to internalize most of it. She was sure that Fenrir was the only one to notice her discomfort at what lay in front of her.

A Kenzi clone lay cut to ribbons on the table, multiple symmetric incisions and black felt pen marks covered the skin of the un-breathing corpse. Several needles hovered over the body, their contents expended. Kenzi's blood still clung to their tips. The clone was notably larger than all of the others, Lauren estimated her to be over six feet tall. Even through the cuts in the tissue all along her body, tracing her skeletal structure, Lauren could see the enhanced muscle definition of the clone.

"What. Is. This?" Lauren asked slowly as she continued to survey the creature that lay before her.

"Subject 115," Dr. Anderson grumbled as he continued with his work.

Dr. Lewis looked to Fenrir with an arched eyebrow.

"You wished to put my concerns at ease, Doctor. The reason subject 21 escaped was due to an engineered defect in her synapse re-absorbed memory recordings. Someone tampered with the programming." Fenrir turned his attention to Dr. Anderson, who was still occupied with the complicated surgery. "Isn't that right, Dr. Anderson?"

"Yes. That's what I said," he barked without turning his attention from the subject. He wasn't pleased with the interruption, though he understood the need for it. The augmentation procedure had to be performed on a fresh clone before it reached maturity. He had tried performing the five step process on living, 'active' specimens but the pain had proven to be unbearable, even while they were sedated. As a result, all live augmentation subjects had died, mostly of cardiac arrest.

This last stage was most critical because the clone was outside the growing tank and would be brain dead in minutes if he didn't finish quickly. Only a few subjects had made it this far in the augmentation process. This one showed the greatest promise of success of all of them.

"And you kept this from me because you think I tampered with 21's syn-cording?" Lauren said with a scowl as she gestured towards the clone on the table.

"I want you to review the syn-croding that has been prepared for one one five and tell me if you find any anomalies, Dr. Lewis. I'd like to see them corrected before we activate the subject." He shepherded Lauren out of the room where Dr. Anderson continued his work on the abomination.

She was directed into a small closet that had been converted into a server hub with a computer that contained the syn-cording for 115 and a copy of the syn-cording for 21 already cued up to play.

...

**Play: watch?v=KsRmNnGi3-o (Audiomachine - Unfinished Life)**

Lauren had completed her analysis of both syn-cordings and had noticed the change made to 21 immediately. A similar, but greatly enhanced model of the same anomaly had been implanted in the syn-cording for 115. Whoever was modifying the syn-cordings had been using fabricated memories of Tamsin and another figure Lauren didn't recognize to influence the behavior of the clone.

Their goal was clearly and obviously to subvert her plans. Someone with access to the clone mainframe computer system did not wish for Fenrir to succeed in his campaign against the fae. If he failed, so would she; if he died, so would Kenzi; and if he died it seemed likely that, without his protection, Vex would as well. And then there was the question of what would happen to her.

She had to fix the programming or she'd be ruined. 'And Bo, oh god,' she thought as she got to work sorting out the subroutines.

From the sounds of the commotion outside, she didn't have much time.

A heavy crash from outside rocked the cannery as Lauren finished with the syn-cording. She felt something, something powerful pulling at her from inside her chest, just under her skin. Something she'd only felt once before.

She was instantly terrified, she knew what was coming for her...

A/N: YAY, another cliff-hanger right? You guys love those... right? I've been trying to put more of them into the story but its kinda hard when I don't know what's going to happen next. But I know what's happening next this time! Maybe you do too? If you've read "The Sound of Silence" you might have a better idea, I think it's chapter nine that has the hint? I'm not sure. I'm going to go ahead and dedicate this chapter to Danielle and all the other Doccubus shippers still hanging tough as Valkubus slowly takes over the realm of fan fiction (and perhaps cannon too...). Keep your fealty strong and you will be rewarded (with more Lauren... This sort of Lauren? You like badass Dr. L right?)


	10. Return of the Succubus

**Play: watch?v=XFEAzP1Zm-A (Two Steps From Hell - "Starfall")**

A/N: 'yall didn't miss me too much did you? My car blew up at the racetrack last week (maybe almost two weeks ago when this gets posted... or three weeks...). Turns out the timing chain snapped and the engine ate it's self at just over 170km/h and locked up. I managed to save the car but the motor is toast. So I've spent all of my spare time drinking beer and wrenching on my car to get it ready for a new motor. I'm still playing with how I want to end this fic, we're past the half way point now and I think we've got far too many characters running around, so there's some violence on the way. "But what about the sex?" You ask? I don't have any overt plans for any, though I've got some bits of a Kenzi/Dyson thing I could work with. What do you think?

Lauren poked her head out of the server room to try and get a better view of what was going on.

Fenrir was standing directly in front of the door, obscuring her view, "Finished, Dr. Lewis?" He appeared ambivalent towards the impending chaos that surrounded the Pier Nine Cannery. He reached out to take the syn-cording disk out of Lauren's hand as she tried to look around his enormous frame for a glimpse of who she knew was nearby.

Bo was here, she knew it. She felt it. That same pull from under her skin she had felt when Bo lost herself and attacked the Light fae compound months ago. She could practically feel the succubus's lust, her hunger as Bo sought out her prey, her next meal, her Lauren.

"Uh, yeah, it's fixed." Lauren began, "Someone had tampered with it in a similar manner. There was a figure inserted into the memories that I didn't recognize."

Fenrir jumped in and cut her off, "He is none of your concern!" he said forcefully before a distant explosion broke his concentration.

The wolf handed the disk to Dr. Anderson, "You don't have much time. Get it done." He said in a hushed tone. Subject 115 was the last part of his plan to eliminate the fae and he needed her operational to continue. The Light were all but shadows, the clone soldiers had surely seen to that by now. 115 would hunt down and assassinate every single member of the Dark in due time.

Dr. Anderson disappeared quickly back to the small suite that held 115 as gunfire erupted from outside the cannery.

Lauren shot Fenrir a sharp stare, "You said no harm would come to her, that was our arrangement!" she barked angrily, belying her supreme satisfaction that her plan had worked. Lauren had long suspected that severe physical or emotional trauma was the key to Bo unlocking her higher level fae abilities. Even if Bo couldn't control herself while using them, Lauren knew she would become the succubus's target. Just like the last time. A sudden memory of the succubus's eerie tone of voice caught Lauren's attention, "I'm not gone, Dr. Lewis, you're never getting rid of me. I'm coming back for more!" It struck her as if from a half-remembered dream from a place long forgotten.

The vicelike grip of the giant's dinner plate sized hand shook Lauren out of thought, "As we agreed Doctor, but we must leave now." He directed Dr. Lewis out of one of the decrepit old steel building's back doors. His large frame barely fit through as he followed the blonde out into the storm.

"This way Doctor," his voice strained over the howling wind. He stepped past her and guided her down the dark, unlit pier.

Lauren followed him down a set of disused metal steps that creaked under the giant's immense weight onto the old wooden dock behind the cannery. She looked at the fiercely rippling black water on either side of the narrow dock and wondered if Fenrir could swim as she heard the wooden planks of the dock groan with each step the man in front of her took.

Through the blowing snow, Lauren saw Bruce and Steve loading Kenzi's pod onto a boat under the supervision of Mr. Woo. She saw his lips moving but the only word she was able to make out over the storm was, "Anderson," as a small wave crashed over the dock, splashing her shoes with frigid water.

"He has served his purpose, Mr. Woo," the voice of the man in front of her boomed as she stepped past him onto the boat.

...

**Play: watch?v=z3MH4l1-t_8 (The Glitch Mob - A Dream Within A Dream)**

_15 minutes and 23 seconds earlier_

Bo came to her senses staring in the glass window of a pawn shop on the far side of town near the cannery district. The distinct reflection of the cobalt glow of her eyes immediately caught her attention. She blinked a few times in an effort to change them back to their natural brown colour to no effect as the streetlight overhead flickered.

She was soaked to the core by the rain, wind and blowing snow that was beginning to stick to the ground now. Though she knew she was freezing, she didn't feel the slightest bit cold as she stood there with the night and the storm surrounding her.

She closed her eyes again and tried to calm herself with even breaths and simple thoughts. However, when she opened her eyes the blue glow was instantly reflected back at her in the glass window. She wasn't feeling particularly aroused or hungry or anything really. She couldn't understand why her eyes wouldn't change back.

"Not this again?" She asked her reflection, sounding rather annoyed as she moved her head side to side to ensure she was indeed simply talking to her reflection like a crazy person and not her inner succubus like a crazy fae. But as luck would have it she was just acting like a crazy human, albeit with glowing blue eyes.

As Bo shook her head at her own ridiculousness she noticed a small red-ish orange glow coming from inside a building at the far end of the street. It drew her closer with feelings of love and longing. Feelings she only had for one person.

There was a small flash of light from the roof of the building followed quickly by a loud bang and a wet thud as a bullet lodged it's self in her stomach.

Bo stumbled forward and fell to her knees. One hand placed on the ground, the other reached up instinctively to cover the wound. But she didn't feel any blood on her hand. Her fingers found the small hole in her shirt as a faint cobalt glow illuminated the sidewalk below her stomach. Moments later, the mushroomed remnants of the bullet fell from the newly healed entry wound into Bo's hand.

The bullet was still hot from being fired and the scorch marks it left in Bo's hand also healed with the same faint blue glow right in front of her eyes. Bo stood back to her full height and saw several more flashes from the sniper atop the building with the red-orange glow inside. She lunged head first through the window of the pawn shop as the bullets zipped past.

The small pieces of the plate glass window that had lodged in Bo's arm and forehead popped out one by one and the cobalt glow from the healing wounds lit up the shop as Bo searched for some appropriate weapons to neutralize her would be attackers. Not a single drop of blood fell from any of the succubus's injuries as they finished healing.

Bo passed by several rifles and shotguns in the glass cases of the pawn shop before settling on a pair of razor sharp Katanas. The guns were useless anyways, it's not like anyone pawns ammunition. Plus she'd never fired one before, she was much more comfortable with the swords. 'And if one was good, two were better,' Bo thought to herself as she grabbed a dagger that fit her thigh holster before making her way to the back of the shop in the hope of finding a rear exit.

The back room of the shop was filled with a number of wondrous and obviously very illegal things. Bo wasn't sure who pawns a box of grenades or an "M72A2 Light Anti-Tank Weapon" Bo slowly read aloud the writing on the side of the crate in front of her with a confused smirk. But she was sure she was definitely going to blow some shit up as she looked at the instructions on the side of the rocket launcher. It seemed simple enough, 'after all, they let the army have them,' she thought to herself as she poured the box of grenades into her purse and stepped out the back door of the pawn shop with the rocket launcher slung over her shoulder.

Bo snuck down the snowy alley way towards the large corrugated steel building at the end of the block. She could see the sniper crouched on top of the building, still facing the main street to her left. As per the instructions, she pulled out the extension tube on the rocket launcher to its fully extended and locked position to arm it. She lifted the three foot long tube onto her shoulder and pointed it at the, still unaware, sniper. The sighting system was a bit awkward but Bo figured if she aimed a bit low and hit the building the rocket would do the rest.

Bo leaned left around the corner and depressed the firing lever. A large, fiery blast obscured her view of the building as the slight recoil of the rocket firing pushed her forward.

Seconds later, the empty gas station down the block to her right exploded spectacularly, sending flaming shrapnel several meters into the air.

Bo turned in shock, just in time to see one of the underground fuel storage tanks blow. A massive fireball illuminated the whole area. She felt the heat of the fire against her cold face as she brought the rocket launcher down off of her shoulder and looked at it again. "Shit," she cursed out loud as she realized she had been holding the launcher the wrong way around. "Now I know how Wiley Coyote feels," she muttered to herself.

At that moment a soldier came walking around the corner Bo had just fired from.

Bo reacted instantly and swung the empty rocket launcher at the cyborg clone's head. She struck her assailant with such force that the soldier's helmeted head bounced into the brick wall of the building to her left, leaving a number of cracked bricks behind as the petite clone's body flopped to the ground.

"Batter up," Bo smiled at the, now badly bent, rocket launcher before tossing it aside into the snow. "At least it was good for something."

She could hear gunfire from the pier nine cannery. Some of the bullets impacted the building to her left but most seemed to be very random. She was pretty sure they hadn't figured out where she was, yet. "So, looks like plan B," she said, sounding more than a little unsure of herself as she drew the two katanas from the sheaths on her back.

Bo checked the weight of the swords in her hands before rushing out into a street filled with armed cyborgs.

...

**Play: watch?v=FQnf4qRRu_U (The Pretenders - "Boots of Chinese Plastic")**

A sudden gust of wind from outside startled the petite Russian awake. Kenzi looked up from what she figured was her second 'whatever was left in the liquor cabinet' cocktail, to see it was nearly three in the morning.

She was starving when she woke up and left Dyson and Vex upstairs asleep on Bo's bed. Given her current streak of 'luck', she wasn't surprised to discover that the faucet didn't work when she went downstairs to make some Kraft Dinner.

"Ебать!," she cursed under her breath. The storm had probably somehow caused a water main to burst or something. She wasn't a city engineer, so she didn't know for sure. All she knew was that she'd have to substitute the last of her vodka for the water she needed to make her KD.

It tasted terrible. But it was food. That was what had inspired her to go back to the liquor cabinet in the hope that the vodka Kraft Dinner would taste better if she'd had a few drinks beforehand.

It had obviously worked given that she had been sleeping face down in a mostly empty bowl on the kitchen island. She picked a cold noodle off of her face and ate it. "Yup, definitely better after a few drinks," she slurred to no one in particular with a self satisfied half smile on her face.

Moments later Trick burst in the front door looking white as a ghost and covered in snow. "Kenzi, we've got to get out of here, NOW!" he exclaimed between deep intakes of breath. He walked over to the tiny human, grabbed her by the wrist, "Now, Kenzi." he demanded.

"Jesus, Trickster, you're cold as hell! What happened to you?" she twitched drunkenly and just about fell off of her stool.

"The heater in Tamsin's truck doesn't work, and most of the windows are broken." Trick stated hurriedly. "Now, go get Dyson."

Kenzi stumbled off of the stool, lurched towards the stairs and steadied herself against the banister. "Are you... Drunk?" Trick asked in disbelief.

"Yup," Kenzi pondered for a moment before collapsing into a seated position on the staircase with her head propped against the wall. "Yup, yup, yup!" she repeated with a crooked smile and vacant eyes.

Trick sighed audibly, "Where are they?"

A/N: So hey, I'm not dead. Promise! And neither is this story. I've got a lot of work to do on my car still so don't expect SUPER regular updates but we're getting there. I'm not quitting. Heck I've already got plans to co-write a mini-spin off from this fic (depending on how it ends) so that should be awesome if it happens. That being said I hope you enjoy this chapter's double cliff-hanger, like Bo said, "if one was good two were better." At this point in the fic I've got a BIG question for the people reading: Do you want to read more from the Bo side of things OR the Kenzi side OR the Lauren side? They all still have their parts to play and all their fates are sealed (except maybe Bo's...) but who should I follow more closely?

Thanks for reading, don't forget to follow and favorite and review and be beautiful. Especially that last one, it's bloody important!


	11. Pier 9

A/N: I ordered a zillion car parts last night (IE when I started writing this chapter... several weeks ago by the time you read this)... So now I'm broke, just like my car. But not so broke as to not afford bourbon. So yay! But I've got a week or so to wait until I get them. That means another (eventual) update of awesomeness. As I begin this chapter the last one hasn't been posted yet so you might get lucky and get two updates in quick succession. (Danielle: or not, cuz I suck lol. Me: So should I leave this in here or what? I'm not sure who you're referring to, and also don't answer... :P) Or something *checks instructions on rocket launcher again*.

**Play:** ** watch?v=WImWuxHbQCw (The Glitch Mob - Beyond Monday)**

_Bo checked the weight of the swords in her hands before rushing out into a street filled with armed cyborgs._

'Ok, so 'plan B' wasn't exactly a masterstroke.' Bo thought to herself as the first bullet grazed her left shoulder. Out in the open and rushing towards the group of soldiers stationed around the front of the Pier Nine Cannery, she was an easy target.

Several more soldiers noticed her and opened fire on the succubus as she sprinted straight towards them, swords at the ready.

What Bo had figured would be a quick dash across the street was seeming more like a marathon. Everything was slowed down substantially to the point where it felt like she was trying to swim through the thick syrupy air instead of run through it.

The overhead streetlamps reflected the coppery glint of a bullet in flight. Bo moved her head out of its path as she watched the green tipped projectile drift past harmlessly. The sheer quiet of the moment was only interrupted by the protracted, hollow thud of rhythmic machinegun fire.

She used the swords to deflect several more bullets away from her. Each bullet struck the silvery Katanas with a heavy, low clang that resonated down the sword and into Bo's elbows.

It didn't take Bo long to figure out what was going on. She was doing this, slowing this down. She didn't know how, but 'how' didn't matter. She was getting closer to the translucent red-orange aura that was pulsing within the building and that was all that mattered.

Once she was almost in striking range of the group of clones, she vaulted head over heels into the air to escape another volley of automatic fire. With several powerful airborne swings, Bo relieved three of the closest clones of their heads before she landed on her feet in a low crouch.

She stood as quickly as the soupy air around her would allow, splitting the clone directly in front of her right up the middle. Meanwhile the severed heads of the other clones around her glided lazily towards the ground amongst a slowly growing red mist of blood that floated off the end of the shimmering blades of the succubus' swords.

The rest of the guards were beginning to turn to face her now, but none had made eye contact yet. She turned to her left and thrust the point of a sword through the sternum of another clone as a flash erupted from overhead.

She dragged one of the nearby living clones through the heavy air into the path of the overhead sniper's bullet. It struck the soldier directly in the top of her helmet, the soldier's face mask filled with blood as the bullet entered the positronic brain.

She stretched back and put her full weight behind the throw and released one of the razor sharp swords point first up towards the sniper leaning over the edge of the cannery roof.

Another flash from the end of the snipers rifle.

Bo's sword passed the bullet in mid-air and struck the sniper under the chin. The tip of the blade protruded up through the back of the snipers skull as she fell forward off of the roof.

Meanwhile, Bo used her other sword to deflect the sniper's bullet into the face of the last remaining soldier.

The severed heads of the first three of her victims hit the ground with an empty thud, followed quickly by the two halves of the vertically bisected clone as the cloud of red mist around the succubus rapidly thickened and dissipated. The bodies of the other dead clones flopped lifelessly to the ground and began to bleed out, creating a large pool of blood for the clone falling from the roof to land in and splatter all over the already blood drenched succubus.

An attack that Bo had perceived as several minutes in length boiled down to just a few seconds for Fenrir's Kenzi clones. The speed at which she moved had made it almost impossible for the soldiers to defend themselves.

Bo pulled her other sword from the splattered remains of the sniper and continued forward towards the building while placing both bloodied swords back in their sheaths on her back.

The succubus was truly unstoppable; and for the first time, she knew it. She was her father's daughter and nothing would stand in her way. She had someone worth fighting for; someone worth dying for.

"I will not stop. I will not rest." She paused and took in the stillness of her surroundings. The wind had died down but the snow still fell heavily, "Fenrir can't stop me now!" She said, elevating her voice with petrifying confidence as she raised her gaze to the wall ahead of her.

She stuffed her hands through the corrugated steel sides of the old building and effortlessly tore a hole large enough for her to step through into the bright lights of the mass operating theater populated by at least fifty armed Kenzi-clone soldiers.

...

**Play: watch?v=NJEW3U63HB4 (The Walkmen-Red Moon)**

"Where'd Dyson go?" Kenzi slurred drunkenly as Trick and Vex hurried past her down the stairs.

"You didn't see him leave, Kenzi?" The old man asked with a growing look of concern on his face. "Kenzi!" he exclaimed as the small girl wobbled with a heavy head on the stairs.

"I'm not drunk," the girl mumbled in an almost indiscernible fashion. "I'm just tired from being up all night drinking while you two spooned on Bo's bed!" she pointed a wobbly finger in Vex's general direction.

"What?" Vex shook his head with a bit of a blush, "I would never..."

Trick cut in on the mesmer's unhelpful defensiveness "It's not important!" He shouted, "We're leaving. I know where Bo is going." He turned to Vex, "Grab Kenzi, we can't leave her here."

Vex attempted to mesmer Kenzi up off the stairs but found her basic motor control to be almost non-existent as she flopped back down awkwardly on the wooden steps with a sharp intake of breath. "Looks like I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way," he grumbled as he looped an arm around her back and lifted her up off of the stairs and mostly dragged her outside towards Tamsin's truck.

"Bloody hell woman!" Vex moaned, "Use your tiny human legs!"

Kenzi might have looked little but her drunken wormy 115lb frame was proving difficult for the scrawny mesmer to physically carry.

He finally managed to shove the inebriated human into the back seat of the broken but running pick-up truck. He had half a mind to drop her in the cold snow but decided against it. He wasn't exactly sure why, but the urgency in Trick's tone seemed to suggest that it wouldn't be in his best interest to doddle. "God, she smells like a brewery," he laughed to Trick as he jumped in the front seat beside the small man.

The older man was having none of it as he pulled the truck out of the driveway, "You know this is your fault, Vex," he told the Mesmer as they drove down the snowy road littered with the bodies of a great number of cloned Kenzis and even more fae.

"I didn't do it!" Vex protested. "I had absolutely nothing to do with the bombing," he fidgeted in his seat and looked over his shoulder to see more snow covered bodies lining the street behind them. At that point it hit him as to why Fenrir had released him from the Dark Fae dungeons. Why he would frame the mesmer for destroying the Light's compound. How it served the beast's purpose. He had effectively been used as bait to trap and kill every remaining Light Fae warrior. As they came to kill Vex, Fenrir's clone soldiers killed them and turned the streets outside the clubhouse into a warzone under the cover of the storm.

Vex bemoaned the fact that a bartender had put the pieces together before he had.

"I thought he was going to try and use me to get to Bo or one of you!" Vex blurted out as though that would help his case with Trick.

Trick shot Vex another accusatory glare to silence him. At that moment it occurred to Vex that one of the snow covered bodies covering the neighbourhood might belong to Dyson. Of course the wolf shifter could have easily killed him in his sleep if he had wanted to. But the fact remained that he was nowhere to be found.

"If you'd just come clean from the beginning," Trick began but this time it was Vex's turn to interrupt the old fae.

"That's why I came to the Dal!" Vex all but shouted.

Kenzi mumbled incoherently in the back seat of the truck as Trick drove.

"I was there to tell you that the Light Fae were going to try and take my head. That's why I asked for sanctuary!" Vex argued incredulously.

Trick didn't look up from the road for a long while. Evidently he was mulling things over in his old, bartender-y mind. Or he was giving Vex the silent treatment. The Mesmer wasn't exactly sure. "So where are we going anyways, barkeep?" he asked, deciding to change the subject.

"I've got a man on the inside who says that Lauren is working with Fenrir to build these clone soldiers." Trick said without taking his eyes off of the road. "He says that she and the giant are going to be at the old Pier Nine Cannery tonight."

"Oh, great!" Vex exclaimed. "So instead of, oh, ya know, protecting me in some sanctuary-ish way, we're going to visit the maniac who's decided I'd make the perfect bait to destroy half the fae!" he continued in the most sarcastic way he could manage while freezing gusts of wind and snow whipped around the cab of the truck.

Trick shot him a final stern, accusatory glare.

"Fantastic plan," Vex sighed in resignation as he slumped back in the uncomfortable seat.

...

**Play: watch?v=RyxKV-iAGEk** **(Dave Porter - You're All They Talk About)**

While Kenzi could vaguely hear the conversation happening up front, she was unable to respond. Using alcohol to drown out the voices in her head had seemed like a good idea when she began pouring the booze down her throat, but it seemed less and less helpful as time went on. On the plus side, passing out drunk meant at least a few hours of rest where she wouldn't be haunted by the memories of the wolf.

That was what she thought when she opened the bottles, at least. So badly now did Kenzi want to be of help to her friends that she fought, fruitlessly, against the bonds of her inebriation. As free from his mind as she had felt in the days since her escape, she was trying to verbalize what she now knew. She simply couldn't.

Instantly she was transported back to the terrifying memories of the wolf and his binding:

_Fenrir's eyes burned with hatred for the gods. His soul boiled with rage. He howled horribly and a river of saliva and blood ran from his mouth as the gods secured his fetter to an anchor stone deep within the ground._

_There he would remain for centuries, until Ragnarök, the day of __judgement __for all those who had wronged him._

And again, Kenzi was brought back to her initial train of thought upon learning of the betrayal of the wolf's confidence. She wondered if the wolf could be killed at all, she wondered why the gods had not killed him on that day.

Her deeply inebriated brain, poisoned by his thoughts, provided her with the reason at last: From the wolf's memories, the one named High stated that "_so greatly did the gods respect their holy places and places of sanctuary that they did not want to defile them with the wolf's blood_,_ even though the prophecies say that he will be the death of Odin._"

'So that's what this was all about!' Kenzi finally managed to put everything together.

Revenge! Revenge against Bo's father, revenge against Bo, her friends, her race. Everything! 'There was no stopping this monster,' she thought as his hate washed over her. No matter how much she had drank, she couldn't shut out these feelings, they consumed her to the point of literally making her sick as she vomited on the floor of Tamsin's bust-a-junk truck while trying to warn Trick and Vex about the danger they were driving towards...

A/N: Yeah, that seems like a good enough spot to end this chapter. I really like the music selection for this chapter, they all seem pretty fitting. Now that I'm listening to music with an ear to "what would be good for the fic" I'm finding all kinds of cool stuff. The new engine should be in my car by the time you're reading this, the project is far from done, but it's a big step. I'd like to write another chapter this weekend while Danielle fixes this one but I'm not sure if I've got the time. I think it's time I finished off the Fenrir origin story I started in Lupum perditionis (ch8). Oh! You thought that was the end of that story? NOPE! Kenzi's brain isn't exactly the best place to be right now.


End file.
